June 6, 2015, 9:28 p.m. – THE UST Growling Tigers
fumbled in their final possession and the De La Salle University Green Archers
escaped with a 84-82 victory and book a quarterfinals slot in the 2015 Filoil
Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan Saturday.
With the score tied at 82, UST had ball possession in the
last 6.5 seconds of the game. But Jamil Sheriff turned the ball over allowing
La Salle star Jerom Teng to score the game-winning layup and end the Tigers’
Filoil run.
“Sinabi ko na maging aggressive sila kasi mahaba pa
‘yung time. Nag-gamble kami sa small lineup pero nag-payoff naman. ‘Yung
decision lang nung nag-inbound [si Sheriff], medyo nagkamali so ito ay magiging
learning from our mistake,” said UST head coach Bong dela Cruz.
Ed Daquioag poured in 20 points and eight assists to lead
the Tigers anew, while Kent Lao and Louie Vigil added 14 and 13 markers,
respectively.
La Salle erected an 11-point lead with three minutes
remaining in the game. But the Growling Tigers ignited a 9-0 spurt courtesy of
Mario Bonleon and Sheriff to cut the lead, 76-74, with 1:50 to go.
After Jason Perkins gave the Archers an 82-79 lead with a
pair of free throws, Daquioag fired a three-pointer to force a tie in the last
10.2 seconds before Teng’s heroics crushed UST.
Thomas Torres powered the Green Archers with 26 points,
highlighted by five triples. Andrei Caracut also buried four threes for 17
markers. Teng scored 12.
UST’s best record in the pre-season tourney was a fourth
place finish in 2013. The Growling Tigers did not join last the tournament last
year. Delfin Ray M. Dioquino
***
BOX SCORE:
UST 82 – Daquioag 20, Lao 14, Vigil 13, Bonleon 10, Sheriff
8, Lee 8, Huang 3, Kakonda 2, Faundo 2, Arana 2
DLSU 84 – Torres 26, Caracut 17, Perkins 14, Teng 12,
Tratter 9, Gob 4, Go 2
Quarter scores: 19-20, 42-40, 57-57, 82-84
