Tigers have familiar battle cry
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:03:00 07/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines--It has the makings of that magical run of 2006. There's a rash of injuries and a coach optimistic that his squad can overcome adversity and come out on top once again.
"The team is capable of pulling surprises," said University of Sto. Tomas coach Pido Jarencio, who rued his squad's inability to maximize the pre-season for preparations because of the injuries to key players.
The Tigers were also hit by injuries in the middle of the 2006 season, but roared back to life in the second round, before eventually nipping Ateneo in the best-of-three finals, a victory that ended a 10-year title drought.
Last season's Most Valuable Player Jervy Cruz has yet to fully recover from a hamstring injury he suffered while playing for Hapee in the PBL, while Dylan Ababou, who saw action for Harbour Centre, remains out because of a hand injury. Khasim Mirza, Francis Allera, Mark Canlas and Allein Maliksi are also nursing minor injuries.
"Our problem is that we are not always complete in practice," he said. "We don't have any advantage because our players in the PBL got injured. Plus we have eight rookies."
That's why Jarencio was quick to quash talk of UST being among the favorites.
"We are not that strong," he said. "We just finished fourth last year." The Tigers spent the pre-season traveling and playing tune-up games in Legazpi, Baguio and La Union.
Injuries and all, Jarencio still issued a familiar warning to the rest of the field.
"You know UST, we pick up in the second round," said Jarencio, who stressed that the three Ps: "Pride, Puso, Palaban" will remain their battle cry this season.
Cedelf P. Tupas
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