Ed Daquioag PHOTO BY TRISTAN TAMAYO/INQUIRER.net
UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas coach Bong dela Cruz made everything sound so simple for a feat that looked remarkable.
“We just recovered on defense,” said Dela Cruz. “We executed our game plan on defense and our offense followed.”
The low-key comment was a stark contrast to the electric response from the UST crowd after the Tigers came back from 14 points down to shred La Salle by 16 points, 77-61, in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament yesterday at Mall of Asia Arena.
It could have been just one of those days for UST where everything fell into place at the right moment. Except that the Tigers pulled off the same feat four days earlier—rallying from 16 points down to club Ateneo by 10, 68-58—to reinforce their status as the league’s “Comeback Cats.”
“A lot of us stepped up,” said UST star Kevin Ferrer, who sat out most of the middle quarters due to early foul trouble, including a large spell of a 30-6 run that gave the Tigers a 49-39 advantage versus the Archers.
Ferrer still topscored with 17 points, including 10 straight at the start of the fourth period that gave the Tigers, their biggest lead at 19 points, 70-51.
UST joined idle Far Eastern University on top at 5-1, followed by Ateneo at 4-2 as the Blue Eagles rebounded from the shock loss to UST with a 56-43 blasting of the University of the Philippines.
Ateneo coach Bo Perasol noted the Eagles made sure to have learned from their meltdown against the Tigers.
“Unlike last game, we only allowed our opponent to score 11 points instead of the 26 we allowed UST in the fourth quarter,” said Perasol.
UST repeated its strong second half, outscoring the Archers, 46-28, there behind Ed Daquioag, Louie Vigil and Kyle Suarez.
The scores:
First Game
ATENEO 56—Ravena 11, Pessumal 11, Apacible 8, Tolentino A. 8, Nieto 4, Gotladera 4, Pingoy 3, Capacio 2, Wong 2, Ikeh 1, Tolentino M. 1, Black 1, Cani 0, Babilonia 0.
UP 43—Desiderio 12, Moralde 9, Prado 8, Amar 6, Asilum 5, Dario 2, Kone 1, Manuel 0, Lim 0, Harris 0, Gallarza 0, Longa 0, Vito 0, Jaboneta 0.
Quarters: 17-9, 36-17, 45-31, 56-43
Second Game
UST 77—Ferrer 17, Abdul 13, Daquioag 11, Vigil 10, Suarez 9, Lee 7, Bonleon 6, Sheriff 4, Abdurasad 0, Arana 0, Faundo 0, Garrido 0, Huang 0, Lao 0, Subido 0.
LA SALLE 61—Teng 13, Torralba 12, Rivero 10, Torres 8, Caracut 5, Perkins 5, Sargent 4, Muyang 2, Navarro 2, Trater 0.
Quarters: 12-18, 31-33, 60-46, 77-61