Filtered By: Sports
Sports

UAAP: Tigers pounce on Bulldogs, force winner-take-all game for finals berth


Aljon Mariano (L) snares the rebound away from three NU Bulldogs  KC Cruz

The fourth-seeded University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers defeated the top-seeded National University Bulldogs, 71-62, to force a winner-take-all game in their Final Four series, Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Tigers are now 2-of-2 in do-or-die games, having defeated the defending champions Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles last Wednesday, to book their Final Four ticket. One more win puts them back in the UAAP Finals, where they were runners-up last season.

[Review the play-by-play of this game here]

The Tigers built 18-point leads multiple times in the game, but they allowed the Bulldogs to claw their way back in the fourth quarter. NU sliced their deficit down to five and they had a golden opportunity to reduce it further to three, but Emmanuel Mbe missed on a wide-open dunk attempt that sucked the life out of the Bulldog run.

The Tigers then proved steadier down the stretch, as they relied on Jeric Teng and Aljon Mariano to keep their heads above water. The duo scored all of UST’s eight points in the last 3:35 of the game, to force the Bulldogs to use their twice-to-beat advantage.

“‘Yon! Buhay pa,” exclaimed UST head coach Pido Jarencio as he entered the press room after the game.

“We started aggressively kaya nakuha namin yung rhythm namin. Nahihiya yung players sa UST community,” Jarencio added. “Kahit umuulan, kahit masama ang panahon, nandiyan sila. Nakita ko sa players yung puso at yung pride dahil kamasa namin yung UST community.”

Kevin Ferrer was named Best Player of the Game as he scored 14 points, going 4-of-9 from the three-point area after being 0-of-8 from downtown in his last two games. Mariano and Clark Bautista added 12 points each, plus a combined 10 rebounds, while Teng chipped in eight markers, five boards and two assists.

“Nung eliminations, eight players lang yung nasa rotation ko, pero ngayong Final Four sinabi ko sa sarili ko na habaan ko para fresh lagi yung mga players ko,” Jarencio said. The tactic worked as all 10 players he fielded in scored at least two points. That made up for a sub-par outing by Karim Abdul, as the Cameroonian managed a mere seven points and seven rebounds, a far cry from his dominant showing versus Ateneo.

The Tigers started the game by going on an 8-1 run with baskets from four locals. They employed choking defense, preventing NU from moving forward by denying Bobby Ray Parks the ball. Karim Abdul added to their lead with an and-one play at the 6:54 mark to go up by nine. Will Porter, the owner of his team’s lone point, finally scored NU’s first field goal with 6:27 left in the first.

Abdul had to step out of the game as he was called for his second foul. Luckily for UST, Paolo Pe stepped in to score four points, giving the Tigers a 19-8 lead heading into the second period.

Robin Roño opened the second quarter by sinking in a three but UST countered with four straight points. Denice Villamor also connected with a three for NU, to bring down UST's lead to nine at 23-14.  

However, the Bulldogs could not pull themselves closer as they turned the ball over on multiple possessions. Kevin Ferrer made his own triple, followed by two baskets from Aljon Mariano to build UST’s biggest lead to that point, at 16, 34-18. Roño however sank a corner triple at the 3:08 mark of the second to trim UST’s lead to 13.

A triple from Ferrer and a two from Mariano stretched UST’s lead to 18, but Gelo Alolino and Emmanuel Mbe made one free throw each for a 39-23 count in favor of UST heading into the halftime break.

UST’s defense forced NU to a horrible 24.1 percent shooting clip from the field in the first 20 minutes. They limited Mbe to only a single point and only one field goal try. The Tigers also held Parks to just two points.

UST, on the other hand, relied on a balanced attack on offense with Mariano and Ferrer scoring eight points each. Teng, Pe, and Clark Bautista added four points each.

Kevin Ferrer (C) raises his hands as Jeric Teng (R) tries a steal on NU's Emmanuel Mbe. KC Cruz

Parks carried the Bulldogs’ fight in the third quarter with two difficult layups. However, UST kept NU at bay with triples from Ferrer and Bautista for a 48-31 count with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. NU inched closer with Alolino and Villamor scoring on long shots. The Bulldogs then got to within 10 points as Roño made a basket at the 2:59 mark of the third, off an extra pass from Mbe.

A conversion from Sheak Sheriff re-established a 12-point lead for UST but Glenn Khobuntin scored on two free throws to end the quarter with NU down by 10 points at 54-44.

Like in their win against Ateneo, the Tigers started the fourth quarter on fire. Sheriff started the run with two free throws, followed by baskets from Pe and Bautista to erect a 60-44 lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the game. Alolino replied with a free throw, but Bautista canned a triple on the next play to re-establish UST’s biggest lead at 18.

With things slipping away from NU’s hands, Alolino stepped up to bring his Bulldogs back into the game. He first made a triple, followed by a split from the free throw line. Mbe then made his first triple of the season at the 5:43 mark for a 7-0 blast that sliced UST’s lead down to 11 at 63-52. Mbe added put-back on the next possession to cut UST’s lead further down to just nine points, the closest they had been since midway through the second quarter.

Four free throws from NU got them to within five. They had a golden chance at trimming it down to three, but Mbe missed on a dunk, even if he was all alone down low. Teng made them pay by nailing a long triple to give UST some breathing room at 66-58 with 3:35 left in the game. Things then turned sour for NU as Parks injured his left hand after being fouled. Luckily for them, Jay Alejandro made two free throws in Parks’ stead to cut the UST lead to six at 66-60.

After a Teng free throw, Parks stepped back into the game and promptly made a basket to get his Bulldogs within five at 67-62. Mariano then sealed the game with four free throws to force a do-or-die game on Saturday.

Alolino led the Bulldogs with 17 points while Parks added 14. Roño and Mbe chipped in eight points each but they got little from the rest of their squad.

NU struggled with their free throws, making only 16-of-28 attempts, while UST scored on 14 of their 16 charities. UST also won the battle of the boards, getting 47 compared to only 39 for NU.

With the UST victory, the pressure has now shifted to the Bulldogs.

“Sabi ko sa inyo, Final Four is a different story. Malaking bagay ito para sa amin, specially para sa second game,” Jarencio said. “Pagpasok namin, nothing to lose kami. Ang pressure nasa kanila. Ang problema sa number one, kailangan mong i-maintain na number one.

"Kami number four, nag-a-aspire lang para maging number one.” - RAF, GMA News
 
 
The scores:

UST 71: Ferrer 14, Mariano 12, Bautista 12, Teng 8, Abdul 7, Sherriff 6, Pe 6, Lo 2, Lao 2, Daquioag 2
 
NU 62: Alolino 17, Parks 14, Rono 8, Mbe 8, Villamor 5, Khobuntin 5, Poeter 3, Alejandro 2, Rosario 0, Javillonar 0, Javelona 0

Quarter scoring: 19-14, 39-23, 54-44, 71-62
LOADING CONTENT