Daquioag stars as UST trumps Lyceum in Filoil pre-season cup

Photo from Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook account.

University of Santo Tomas stood its ground as it repelled Lyceum of the Philippines University, 72-66, to get to the .500 mark in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Preseason Premier Cup Wednesday afternoon at the Arena in San Juan.

With the win, the Growling Tigers improved to 3-3 behind fourth place La Salle while the Pirates share the seventh spot with University of the Philippines as they fell to 1-5.

Shaq Alanes caught fire and knocked two triples for the Pirates as they staged a 10-0 rally in the fourth to cut the UST lead to three, 65-62, with 2:01 remaining.

The Growling Tigers were seemingly control as they led by as much as 13, 65-52, at the 5:42 mark of the fourth before Lyceum’s comeback.

UST head coach Bong dela Cruz said his team has to go for the kill when the opportunity presents itself, a chance they did not take when they had Lyceum in the ropes.

“We have to improve our killer instinct,” dela Cruz said. “They were down in the fourth but we relaxes a little bit.”

“Good thing the veterans pulled through for us.”

Ed Daquioag, who led UST with 16 points, nailed a three-pointer from the right wing before Christian Kakonda sneaked in for a fastbreak layup to put the game away, 70-62, with a little over minute left.

Kent Lao added 15 points for UST.

Guy Mbida led the Pirates with 21 points to go along with seven boards. CC