THE UST Growling Tigers booked a spot in the Final 4 with an 83-76 victory over the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena last Oct. 25.
Kevin Ferrer, who shot an awful 1-of-11 from the field in UST’s loss to the Ateneo de Manila University, led the Tigers’ offense with a career-high 29 points, 23 of them coming in the second half, and a season-high 14 rebounds.
Veterans Louie Vigil and Ed Daquioag chipped in 16 and 15 markers, respectively.
Ferrer and Daquioag led a 7-2 rally in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Fighting Maroons, 76-68.
The Tigers closed the third period with a 61-51 advantage, but UP fought back in the fourth with a 15-8 run to narrow the gap to three, 66-69.
“Good ‘yung performance [ng team] today; si Louie bumalik, si Kevin nag-step up. ‘Yung mga hinahanap ko sa mga beterano nagpapakita na ngayon,” Tigers head coach Bong Dela Cruz said.
UST has now won 18 straight games against the Fighting Maroons since 2007.
Jett Manuel paced the Fighting Maroons with a career-high 21 points.
“Meron pa kaming games to improve and syempre nasa Final Four ka na [so] ang target mo na is to go up higher, so ‘yun ‘yung [magiging] preparation namin [and] ‘yun ‘yung gusto namin,” Dela Cruz added.
The Tigers now carry a 9-2 win-loss slate for second place behind last season’s runner up the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.
Last Dance
Graduating players Ferrer and Daquioag are making most out of their final year in the collegiate ranks as they provide the much-needed one-two punch for the Tigers.
Ferrer has been a consistent double-digit scorer in 11 games so far, averaging 17.7 points and 8.6 rebounds. He averaged only 9.6 points last season where he played only eight games due to injury.
Despite a relatively better season, Ferrer believes that the Tigers still have to improve.
“Ginagawa ko lang naman ‘yung best [ko]. Kung anong mayroon sa stats wala akong pakialam doon basta makuha natin ‘yung championship,” he said.
Daquioag is averaging 17.9 points and 5.4 rebounds this season, a marked improvement from his 7.2-point average last year.
“Si Ed last year pa dapat kaya lang nagkaroon ng injury so nag-stop ‘yung growth niya sa UAAP. Ngayon healthy siya [at] siya [ang] nakikita ng tao, pero ‘di na ako nagtataka doon kasi nakikita ko [na] hardworker talaga siya,” head coach Dela Cruz said.
Daquioag has had a share of special performances this season. He exploded for 28 points against Adamson University on opening day then scattered 34 points against the Red Warriors on Oct. 7.
