Tigers are a mystery no more
Manila, Philippines–The secret, the one they call the University of Santo Tomas Tigers, is out of the bag.
The Tigers have made an impression on the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball tournament, both for their success and failures, and have established themselves as a contender in a topsy-turvy league where Far Eastern University seems to be the only constant.
Playing four games so far, UST has shown it has yet to exorcise its worst demon–turnovers–with coach Pido Jarencio’s side averaging a little more than 18 turnovers a ballgame.
Those mistakes were converted into at least 16 more points for their opponents.
In its match against a taller Adamson U, UST stood two minutes from a 3-1 slate after catching fire from downtown for the second game in a row.
But sophomore stringer Jeric Teng lost a bad pass with 55 ticks left that keyed the Tigers’ doom and left the black-and-gold half of the coliseum dismayed.
“The turnovers are what killed us,” said Jarencio of his team who lost the ball 12 times more than Adamson in the loss.
That’s 12 more possessions for the Falcons.
But Adamson coach Leo Austria commended Jarencio for his remarkable job handling a young and talented team.
“As you can see, up to the last second they just won’t give up,” commented the effervescent Austria.
Austria even specifically instructed his boys to pressure guard Jeric Fortuna the entire game, yet the junior marksman still shot an impressive 71.4% from beyond the arch to convincingly back up his 29-point explosion in their victory over University of the Philippines.
And that victory over the Maroons, by the way, was nearly torpedoed by a pair of key errors in the stretch.
“This team is really built on shooters, and I give always give them the license to shoot,” said Jarencio, whose team matched the UAAP record of 16 triples twice. In back-to-back matches.
Fortuna led the three-point charge against UP with eight while Teng got it going against Adamson with seven triples.
But even as the Tigers continue to enjoy a field day downtown, Jarencio acknowledged the need to toughen it up inside when they battle the big guys of the UAAP.
“Our interior didn’t work hard like they should (against Adamson); the problem started with them,” sighed Jarencio.
Forward Chris Camus and rookie center Paolo Pe never found a way to have good looks at the basket against the Falcons’ defense.
Lacking a legit post-up scoring big man, the Tigers are just ranked seventh in the league in both points in the paint (24.5/game) and blocked shots (2.5/game) with at most a 10-point differential from the league’s number one in those departments.
Nevertheless, head coach Eric Gonzales of National U, whose Bulldogs recently bowed down to the Tigers, deems UST the ‘dark horse’ of this UAAP season.
“Jarencio knows how to put his players in the right spot.”
“Their fighting spirit is tremendous, and we can’t take them lightly,” Gonzales said.
“Maybe they were just surprised since they didn’t see us play in the pre-season,” Jarencio said. “But it’s an honor to be given a recognition like that.”
UST’s performance as of late may have stamped a mark among its competitors, but Jarencio knows they have a long list of things to improve on.
“I hope we can be better. We still have to play harder and work harder as a team,” Jarencio finished.
