THE UST Tiger Cubs suffered a fourth-quarter meltdown and surrendered to a much-improved University of the East, 55-62, in the UAAP juniors basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena last July 21.
Despite Aaron Reyes’ career-high 20 points and 23 rebounds and Ice Dandan’s 20 markers, the Tiger Cubs fell to their third consecutive loss. UST banked on successive full-court presses to climb back from 13 points down and trim UE’s lead to seven, 53-60, in the last two minutes of the game.
But the Junior Warriors just melted the clock in the dying seconds to cop their first victory of the season. Mark Del Rosario led the Junior Warriors with 12 points and 11 boards.
UE earlier went on a 14-2 spurt, highlighted by Del Rosario’s three-pointer at the 4:41 mark of the final canto, to build a comfortable 13-point cushion, 58-45.
In the third quarter, Reyes exploded for seven-straight points to keep UST within one, 43-44, entering the final period.
“We had a lot of turnovers and missed shots. We have to double our efforts to adjust our offense,” coach Allan Ascue said.
UST registered a frustrating 11.8 percent (four of 34) three-point shooting to go with 23 turnovers.
Last July 17, the UST Tiger Cubs absorbed a 72-84 beating at the hands of De La Salle-Zobel at the same venue.
Veteran guard Paulo Corre paced UST with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Reyes added 18 markers and 16 boards.
Down by 20 early in the fourth quarter, the Tiger Cubs fired a 6-2 run off the solid efforts of Corre to inch closer, 60-73. But point guard Henry Subido, who piloted La Salle with 28 points, four assists and five steals, went on a solo six-point blitz to give the Junior Archers an 84-70 lead with less than a minute to play.
Big man Karl Maldinger added 23 markers and 12 rebounds for La Salle, which remained unbeaten in four outings. UST was within one, 19-20, after the first canto, but the Junior Archers went on a 15-8 surge to close the first half, 39-28.
The España-based cagers shot a miserable one of 13 from three-point country, 25 of 39 freethrow shooting and tallied 32 turnovers.
