THE UST Growling Tigers fell short against the UE Red Warriors, 66-60, ending their two-game winning streak in the Filoil EcoOil 17th Preseason Cup at the Filoil EcoOil Centre on Saturday, June 1.
UST was in control of the first half, outscoring UE, 37-31, before the Red Warriors came to life and took over with a 24-6 third quarter. Ethan Galang’s three triples powered UE’s 15-0 run.
With less than four minutes remaining in the game, the Tigers recovered and cut UE’s lead to five courtesy of Angelo Crisostomo’s layup, 60-56, but the Red Warriors uncorked a 6-1 spurt to put UST away for good.
“They made runs. Iyong shots nila pumasok lahat halos iyong three points, especially si Galang. Iyon ang story ng third,” UST assistant coach Japs Cuan told the Varsitarian. “We made adjustments naman. That’s why when we recovered during the fourth, kinapos na ng oras kasi mabigat din iyong 15 points na hinabol.”
“Nevertheless, iyong ginagawa naman ng team, okay naman. It just happened na talagang swerte sila sa labas.”
The Tigers shot 34 percent from the field (22/63) and made just four of their 19 three-point attempts.
UE scored 19 points off of UST’s 17 turnovers.
Crisostomo paced the Tigers with 12 points, while Nic Cabañero scored 11 markers. Former Red Warrior Kyle Paranada led the UST bench with nine points.
Red Warrior John Abate scored 16 points, while Precious Momowei and Galang had 15 points apiece.
“Right now we’re in the experiment stage pa. We go back to the film. Tingnan namin ‘yong mga mistakes at saka kung saan kami puwedeng mag-improve as a team,” Cuan said. “Every game kailangan nag-i-improve ang team kasi this is our preparation for UAAP.”
UST will next face the Adamson Soaring Falcons at the same venue on Wednesday, June 5, at 3 p.m
