THE UST Growling Tigresses secured at least a playoff for a Final Four berth as they survived the Adamson University Lady Falcons, 74-70, in their UAAP encounter at the Mall of Asia Arena Wednesday.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ruby Portillo and Jhenn Angeles gave UST a 70-62 lead with 1:40 left in the game.
But the Falcons rode on an 8-0 blast to trim the lead to two but Angeles sank two freebies to seal the game.
UST shot 34 percent from beyond-the-arc to land at fourth place with a 6-7 record.
“‘Yung spacing namin sa offense [ang naging key.] Open corners and penetrations,” UST head coach Haydee Ong said.
Candice Magdaluyo led the Tigresses with 16 markers while Shanda Anies chalked up 14 points.
UST also converted 15 second chance points off their 17 offensive boards. The Tigresses had 45 rebounds in total.
The Tigresses will wrap up the elimination round against the UE Lady Warriors on Nov. 15, 10 a.m., at the Smart Araneta Colesium.
“‘Yung stength ng UE is inside points so we need to give them one chance or no shot at all pagdating sa defense namin. So our post players need to work harder,” Ong said. Ivan Ruiz L. Suing
