University of Santo Tomas turned the corner during the second half to snatch their third straight victory at the expense of the struggling University of the Philippines five, 73-57, in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 77 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.
After a woeful first half for the Tigers, they started to get the ball in the hands of their main guy at the post Karim Abdul, who finished the game with a season-high 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the second half comeback for UST.
Returnee forward Louie Vigil recorded his best performance of the season, finishing with a career-high 17 points along with three steals to give his squad its third consecutive crack at the winning column, tying both Far Eastern University and Ateneo de Manila in second place with identical 3-1 won-lost marks.
It was again a second half collapse that did in the Fighting Maroons, who dropped their fifth straight game of the season, scoring just 18 points in the third and fourth period combined. The Maroons were in control since the tip-off until the third quarter.
UP seemed to have the upper-hand over the embattled Tigers after two quarters of play, finishing on a 39-36 halftime output. However, things started to look bleak for the Maroons, only managing to score almost half of their first half total in the next twenty minutes.
To make things more unbearable for the Maroons, their big men got into foul trouble in trying to limit Abdul in his low post havoc.
“Sinunod lang namin ang system na sinabi ni coach. Sabi ni coach after ng game namin against Adamson, puro shooting kami one week straight every practice, two hours. Basta ma-execute lang yung play, tapos tira lang sa labas,” said Vigil, the former National Collegiate Athletic Association juniors’ division most valuable player with Jose Rizal University in 2009.
“‘Yung mga kalaban namin kasi, kagaya ng UP, puro [2-3] zone talaga sila. Iniisip nila na wala talaga kaming shooters, kaya binigyan kami ng confidence ni coach,” he added
“Siguro ‘yung shooting namin nung first three quarters ‘di nag-click. Tinyaga lang namin because of our practice. We practice hard going to this game, so nag-payoff nung fourth quarter,” said UST Head Coach Bong De La Cruz.
But the main highlight of the comeback win of the Tigers is the resurgence of Aljon Mariano, who found his groove at the dying minutes of the game. Mariano proved to be instrumental as he led UST into a 19-0 run in the fourth quarter. He finished with 10 points and six boards while showing his on-court smarts as he also orchestrated vital plays in the final stretches of the game.
“Medyo flat kami nung first half, wala kaming defense. Tsaka nagcoconnect ang outside shooting ng UP kaya mahirap silang depensahan. Sabi lang ni coach nung halftime na maging tight yung defense namin,” Mariano said of their lacadasical first half output.
Leading UP to another unfortunate outing was ex-San Beda forward Dave Moralde, who finished with 15 markers and five rebounds, followed by JR Gallarza with 10 points.
The Fighting Maroons extend their misery to 26, with all five losses this tournament via an average margin of 16 points.
