Games on Saturday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
8 a.m. – NUNS vs Ateneo (16U)
10 a.m. – NU vs UE (Women)
Noon – UP vs FEU (Women)
2:30 p.m. – NU vs UE (Men)
5 p.m. – UP vs FEU (Men)
UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) wasn’t to be another victim of University of the East’s (UE) upset ax, cruising to a 97-70 win to revive its Final Four hopes in the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The UST Growling Tigers pounced on a 35-16 start and never looked behind for their second straight win at 6-6 after an 86-85 squeaker over contender and host Far Eastern University.
Santo Tomas now lurks at fifth place for a striking distance from reigning champion De La Salle University and Far Eastern University in the mad dash to the semifinals, where University of the Philippines (9-2) is already in and National University already has one foot inside.
Nigerian anchor Peter Osang debuted in style for the Growling Tigers, hauling a 19-point, 15-rebound double-double laced by two steals and five blocks in lieu of their other foreign student-athlete (FSA) Collins Akowe.
MVP contender Amiel Acido (22), Landyn Jumawan (16), Mark Llemit (11) and Koji Buenaflor (10) chipped in key support for him as Santo Tomas is slowly but surely steadying the ship even with a new FSA after a costly three-game skid that pushed it to all the way to seventh place.
“This is a testament to what we do behind the scenes. Peter (Osang) was never not a part. He’s always a part of the team and it turned out well [on] Wednesday,” said assistant coach Peter Martin as the activation experiment of Mr. Osang paid dividends in preparing for one last semifinal push.
“We’re happy with the way he performed and we’re looking forward to more opportunities with him.”
Up against a spirited UE Red Warriors who just scored a 53-47 win over the Adamson Soaring Falcons to snap a 30-game skid, the Growling Tigers were quick to take the fight out of them with a 19-point gap in the first until leading by as many as 31 points.
Tope Lagat (22) and Drew Jimenez (10) led UE, which was already out of the race at 1-11 way before ending an almost three-year futility as the second-longest in history next to only Adamson’s 35 straight losses from 1999 to 2002. — John Bryan Ulanday
The scores:
UST 97 – Acido 22, Osang 19, Jumawan 16, Llemit 11, Buenaflor 10, Chio 5, Danting 5, Cañete 3, J. Sevilla 3, Alao 2, Manding 1, D. Sevilla 0, Esteban 0, Bucsit 0.
UE 70 – Lagat 22, Jimenez 10, Cruz-Dumont 7, Vazquez 6, Sabroso 6, Carillo 5, Tañedo 4, Dungca 3, Apostol 3, Edoukou 2, Robles 2, Santos 0, Datumalim 0, Perez 0, Mascariñas 0, Javier 0.
Quarterscores: 35-19, 58-41, 82-56, 97-70.
