The UST Growling Tigers dropped out of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup following a 68-77 loss to the National University in their semi-finals game at the Arena in San Juan last June 6.
Aljon Mariano topscored for UST with 16 points and six rebounds, while teammates Jeric Fortuna and Karim Abdul finished with 12 markers apiece.
“We played a good game, but we had too many turnovers plus a bad rotation on defense,” Fortuna said.
Mariano singlehandedly led the Tigers in the last frame, but UAAP Season 75 Most Valuable Player Bobby Ray Parks and Emmanuel Mbe teamed up to hold off UST and pull away for good. Things turned from bad to worse for UST when Abdul fouled out with 4:33 minutes left.
UST struggled in the three-point area, posting a woeful 4-of-26 shooting clip.
The Tigers waxed hot in the first quarter, leading by as much as 24 points, 23-9. But the Bulldogs called their way back into the game through the efforts of Mbe and Parks, who combined for more half of NU’s final score.
Clark Bautista nailed a triple in the third quarter to keep UST ahead, 49-41, until the Bulldogs found their bearings late in the frame following a series of errors by the Tigers.
In its previous match, UST pounced on University of the Philippines, 77-70, to book a ticket to the quarterfinals with Mariano exploding with 26 points.
Jeric Fortuna took over late in the fourth quarter to cap UST’s fifth win in eight games. Jan Edward B. Ballesteros and Carla Patricia S. Perez
