Photo by Ericka Alcantara. More photos here

The University of Santo Tomas emerged victorious today against the National University in the UAAP men’s basketball competition at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Sinking their claws in the final quarter, the UST Growling Tigers made a successful comeback and edged out the NU Bulldogs at 77-71 to secure their second victory.

With Jeric Teng and Kevin Ferrer rallying threes in the fourth quarter, the Tigers finally trumped past the Bulldogs who dominated the first three.
NU tried to get back the lead with a three from Robby Ray Parks but successful inside shots from Ferrer and Aljon Mariano stopped them.Clark Bautista sealed the deal for UST with a shot just 25 seconds from the end of the game.

Tigers Coach Pido Jarencio said their less stellar performance in the first half was due to the early schedule of the game.

The game was pushed to 11 a.m. instead of the usual 2 p.m.

“Siyempre kailangan kang gumising ng maaga, tapos iyong mga bata nag-aaral yan. Mag-eexplain pa sa professor na humingi ng excuse letter kung pwede [dahil] may game,” Jarencio said.

He also explained that he had his team practicing at 12 noon to 1 p.m.

“Any way, ang istorya lang diyan pagdating ng alas-dose kami na yung ano… magaling na kami dun. Kasi oras na namin iyon eh. Katawan ng mga player namin ay oras ng maglaro ng basketball eh,” the coach added.

Parks led the scoring department for the game at 25 points, shooting the 20 in the first half.

Teng, on the other hand, had the most number of rebounds at 11, with six offensive boards.

BOX SCORES
SANTO TOMAS (77): Teng 21, Abdul 11, Mariano 10, Fortuna 10, Ferrer 8, Bautista 7, Afuang 6, Lo 4, Vigil 0, Pe 0, Daquioag 0
NATIONAL (71): Parks 25, Mbe 13, Alolino 13, Javillonar 11, Villamor 5, Rosario 3, Ignacio 1, Rono 0, Neypes 0, Khobuntin 0, De Guzman 0, Betayene 0
QUARTERS: 15-21, 36-41, 53-60, 77-71