THE RED-HOT outside shooting of the UST Growling Tigers allowed them to wriggle out of the National University (NU) Bulldogs’ defensive tripwire by a whisker, 59-58, last July 29 at the Araneta Coliseum, capping their third win in five meetings.
UST power forward Carmelo Afuang saved the day for the España-based team after scoring their last seven of his 15 points in the fourth including a triple that gave UST a six-point buffer in the last 2:19 of the game, 59-53.
“Coach Pido told us to take the shot whenever we are open,” Afuang, now on his third playing year for the Tigers, said. “He also instructed us to play good defense against (Emmanuel) Mbe.”
Bulldog Joseph Hermosisima answered Afuang’s trey with his own three-pointer in the last two minute mark of the game, succeeded by big man Emmanuel Mbe’s basket with only 4.8 seconds to go, 59-58. But the last laugh still belongs to the Tigers after a deceptive inbound that made the Bulldogs wish they were in the penalty situation.
“Even though we were undersized, we still pulled it off in our defense,” said coach Pido Jarencio, commending the performance of Fil-am Chris Camus who limited Mbe to only 10 points the entire match. Camus tallied 11 points, seven boards and three steals.
Afuang and the backcourt tandem of Clark Bautista and Jeric Fortuna combined for 12 points in the fourth, shooting five dagger treys that sealed the game for UST.
Rookie Paolo Pe had his share of the spotlight after drilling in a buzzer-beater that gave UST a five-point lead in the third quarter, 38-33. But NU refused to give up, sparking an 8-0 run to end the third with the momentum in their side, 41-38.
Jewel Ponferrada led the Bulldogs with 12 points and eight rebounds. Melvin Baloran added 11 markers.
In a previous match, the Tigers’ sweet-shooting from the three-point range was not enough to save them from a 71-75 beating against the Adamson University Soaring Falcons at the PhilSports Arena on July 25.
The Tigers duplicated their output of 16 triples from their prior match to tally Adamson’s all-time record of the most number of three-pointers made in a single game.
But erratic plays and lots of turnovers made the big difference. UST had a total of 25 turnovers throughout the game which Adamson converted to 25 points.
Top-scorer Jeric Teng, who made seven connections from the arc, scored a career-high of 23 points. Camus had a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards on top of six assists.
After an all-Adamson first half, UST gained the momentum late at the last two minutes of the third quarter with Fortuna and Bautista exploding with three consecutive three-pointers to grab hold of the lead at 53-52.
African big man Lionel Manyara forced a deadlock with a two-handed slam off a steal, his second in the game for Adamson, followed by another basket of his own, 58-60.
The Tigers were pinned at 65 for more than two minutes in the quarter, a situation capitalized by Lester Alvarez and Janus Lozada to build a six-point lead in the last 22 seconds of play, 65-71.
Teng and Bautista’s back-to-back treys in the last 10 seconds of the game were as far as UST could go, 71-73. The Falcons propelled the win as Alvarez and Jerick Cañada converted their charities to end the game leading by four.
Previously, UST mauled the University of the Philippines (UP) in a thrilling 87-81 overtime finale on July 22 at the Big Dome.
Fortuna played the hero’s role for UST with a career-high 29 points, shooting 80 percent from beyond-the-arc, including a crucial four-point play in overtime that gave UST the lead, 73-71.
Bautista and sophomore Aljon Mariano joined the three-point shooting spree to redeem themselves from Magi Sison’s and-one play, 82-75, with 34.9 seconds left. Silungan and Martin Reyes had their last hurrah, firing twin triples, 81-84, but Mariano’s gift shots sealed the match for the Tigers.
The Tigers’ first loss came at the hands of defending champions Ateneo via a 56-68 drubbing on July 18 at the Philsports Arena. With reports from Brylle B. Tabora
The Scores:
UST 59 – Afuang 15, Bautista 14, Camus 11, Teng 6, Fortuna 6, Pe 4, Mariano 3, Wong 0, Tinte 0, Mamaril 0, Lo 0, Daquioag 0, Aytona 0.
NU 58 – Ponferrada 12, Baloran 11, Mbe 10, Terso 8, Hermosisima 6, Ludovice 4, Tungcul 3, Khobuntin 2, Javillonar 2, Ignacio 0, Eriobu 0, Singh 0, Malanday 0, Magat 0.
Quarterscores: 13-10, 22-25, 38-41, 59-58.
