Tag: February 28

A NEW ERA is about to begin for the UST Growling Tigers as former chief tactician Pido Jarencio takes a career leap to the pros.

With Jarencio taking the helm of Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) Globalport Batang Pier and realizing his life-long dream, Fr. Ermito De Sagon, O.P., Institute of Physical Education and Athletics director, said University officials still have yet to decide who among the “more or less eight applicants” would succeed Jarencio.

Get to know the prospects, their background and what they could bring to the Tigers' bench.

Estong Ballesteros

An assistant coach for the longest time, Ballesteros, who was endorsed by Jarencio, was the early favorite to become the new UST coach.

MEMBERS of the 1996 UST champion team came together and took on the 2006 titlists in an exhibition game in the inaugural Tigers Basketball League at the Buddhacare Gym in Quezon City last Feb. 16.

Almost 20 years since completing the Growling Tigers’ historic “four-peat” UAAP conquest in the 1990s, the 1996 team, led by coach Aric Del Rosario, held off a late rally by the 2006 squad to fashion out a 99-97 victory.

The ’96 cagers didn’t allow age to slow them down as they built a commanding 15-point cushion, 96-81, after former UAAP MVP and current Tigresses head coach Chris Cantojos converted a jumper with less than five minutes remaining.

BOTH UST chess teams capped their UAAP Season 76 tournament at fourth place after separate matches at the De La Salle University Enrique Razon Sports Center last Feb. 23.

After snagging the title from Far Eastern University (FEU) last year, the Male Woodpushers garnered only 33 points this season.

Tied with La Salle, they lost the tie-breaker that gave FEU the championship with 39.5 points. Adamson University came in second with 33.5 points.

The Female Woodpushers made their way to fourth place from sixth in Season 75 behind four-time champion La Salle, UP and FEU.

CALL it playing a spoiler's role in season-ending consolation victories.

The Golden Tigresses upset Adamson University, 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-15 while Mark Gil Alfafara exploded for 24 points as he powered the Tiger Spikers to a 25-23, 25-19, 25-17 victory over the University of the Philippines (UP) in their respective season-enders at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum last Feb. 15.

Both España-based spikers failed to make it to the Final Four in their respective divisions for the second straight season, with both teams finishing at sixth place with an identical 5-9 win-loss slate.

FAR EASTERN University (FEU) swept the UST Lady Booters in their best-of-three Finals to rule the women’s division while University of the Philippines (UP) knocked out the UST Golden Booters in their Final Four match to book a return trip to the Finals.

Marice Magdolot scored a late-game goal for the Lady Booters in the 87th minute, but came up short as FEU did not allow a series extension, 1-2, last Feb. 23 at the FEU-Diliman field.

Sharmaine Siaotong converted at the 14th minute before teammate Alesa Dolino tallied one more goal at the 57th minute en route to FEU’s second straight title.

THE UST Softbelles and Golden Sox came close to reaching the Finals but were both denied by National University (NU) in their respective games last Feb. 12 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Softbelles duplicated their third-place finish last season with an 8-5 win-loss record as they failed to rise from a four-point deficit against the Lady Bulldogs, 5-9.

Fourth-seeded Golden Sox, who only managed three wins in 10 outings, lost in the battle-for-third against NU, 3-7.

Leading by just a point, 5-4, in the third frame, the Lady Bulldogs dictated the tempo in the following inning after UST committed a series of errors.

FOUR former UST Tiger Spikers made it to the 18-man roster of the Philippine Men’s National Club Team that will compete in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championships on April 6 to 8 here in the Philippines.

Among the 50 hopefuls from different leagues such as UAAP, NCAA and Philippine Super Liga, UST Golden Tigresses assistant coach Christian Fernandez, Paul Doloiras, Jayson Ramos and JP Torres made the cut. The number of aspirants joining the national team named PLDT Power Pinoys was trimmed down to 30 and late, the final 18.

It will be headed by current PLDT myDSL head coach Francis Vicente, who was a former UST Athletic Moderator, Physical Education teacher, UST girls’ volleyball team coach and UST Golden Tigresses assistant coach.

TEAM captain Hanniel Abella carried the UST Female Fencers to a runner-up finish while the Male Fencers placed fifth in the UAAP fencing tournament at the Blue Eagle Gym in Ateneo de Manila University last Feb. 2.

Abella copped the lone gold medal for UST in the women’s individual epee tournament.

Dyren Peñaflor (women’s foil), Kimberly Camahalan (women’s sabre), Noelito Jose and Bernardino Arribas (men’s epee) secured bronze medals for the España-based squad in their respective tournaments.

“The runner-up finish was unexpected since the lineup consists mostly of rookies,” epee coach Armando Bernal said.

WITH THE creation of the UST Sports Science laboratory under its auspices, the College of Rehabilitation Sciences (CRS) will now play a major role in the physical conditioning of the University’s athletes.

CRS instructor Angelito Guilas said the new facility should provide a better sports training program for athletes, improving their performance.

SHE FOUGHT tooth and nail to give the country its first Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) taekwondo gold medal, only to find out two months later that she could be stripped of the title.

Thomasian Esther Marie Singson, the SEAG 2005 bantamweight division titlist, is in danger of losing her medal after coming out positive for diuretics in a urinalysis conducted by the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine (PCSM) after the biennial multi-sports meet.