Tigers growl back, attack Bulldogs

Manila, Philippines -  University of Santo Tomas survived an atrocious second quarter stint, clawing back from 17 points down to beat National U, 58-57, in overtime and join Far Eastern at second in the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

Aljon Mariano attacked the basket with 4.4 seconds left to punch in the game-winner for a UST side that struggled after harrowing a season-low three-point output in the second period, where they fell behind halfway through, 14-31.

“Down by 17 in the first half, we worked our way up. Credit it to the boys’ heart, they wouldn’t give up and fought it out till the end,” said UST coach Pido Jarencio in Filipino.

The win was the Tigers’ seventh against two losses to tie the Tams, just half-a-game behind Ateneo (7-1).

UST was still down by 10 at the end of the third (32-42) but inched its way back with a tenacious fourth period assault, capped by clutch triple by Jeric Fortuna at the buzzer that forced overtime.

NU seized a three-point in the last 1:43 of extension but Kevin Ferrer followed up a missed trey by Jeric Teng to cut it to one then the Tigers forced Bobby Ray Parks to a travelling violation, setting up the final offensive by Mariano over Troy Rosario.

“If we only got close, I knew that things will happen for us,” said Jarencio, whose wards bounced back from their humbling 60-87 blowout loss to FEU the previous game.

Mariano paced the Tigers with 22 markers and six rebounds, followed by Karim Abdul’s 10-point, 10-rebound effort.

Parks (15 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) and Emmanuel Mbe (10 points, 13 boards), paced NU, which dropped to 5-4.

Earlier, Terrence Romeo provided the spark early on while bullstrong Arvie Bringas anchored Far Eastern U’s strong finishing kick as the Tamaraws hacked out a come-from-behind 76-68 triumph over the Adamson Falcons.

Romeo waxed hot with 27 points laced with seven triples while Bringas unloaded all of his seven markers in the Tams’ fierce fightback from seven-points down in the last five minutes. leading the Tams to the followup win to their 87-60 demolition of the Tigers last Thursday.

“It was a slow start for us, probably because of the celebrations following our huge win over UST. Luckily, Terrence hit his triples and RR (Garcia) had a couple of treys himself. Slow start but then we had a strong finish so we’ll take this,” FEU coach Bert Flores said in Filipino.

Romeo rifled in a whopping 22 points in the first half – the most at the midpoint since Dylan Ababou piled up 23 markers for UST last July 16, 2009 – spiked by a torrid 6-of-7 three-point clip as FEU played level with Falcons at 40 after falling behind by 10 at 21-31. 

The Falcons seized a 65-58 upperhand on Eric Camson’s shot clock-beating three-pointer with 4:56 left before Bringas took over in an 18-3 windup.

“I just gave it my best because this is an important game in preparation for our showdown with Ateneo on Wednesday,” said Romeo, who also issued five assists and had one steal.

Bringas also contributed seven rebounds. 

“I was quite flat in the first three quarters and coach told me you can make up for it in the fourth quarter and I took the chance to just do that,” said Bringas.

Eric Camson had a career-high 24 for AdU, which dropped to 1-8.

Notes: The UAAP has set a special board meeting on Wednesday to tackle the eligibility case of University of the Philippines’ foreign player Chris Ball and determine if the Maroons’ lone win would be forfeited. State U wasn’t able to submit the required Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) before the end of the first round but asked for an extension. “We already have an ACR number for Ball but not the physical ID yet since the processing of that ID was affected by the long weekend. We’ll present it to the board on Wednesday,” said coach Ricky Dandan, who opted to sit out Ball in their first outing in the second round, a 66-73 setback to Ateneo.

The scores:

First Game

FEU 76 – Romeo 27, Pogoy 13, Garcia 13, Hargrove 9, Mendoza 7, A. Bringas 7, Sentcheu 0, Inigo 0, Cruz 0, M. Bringas 0.

AdU 68 – Camson 24, Cruz 16, Trollano 9, Agustin 6, Monteclaro 5, Rios 4, Julkipli 2, Cabrera 2, Petilos 0, Etrone 0, Abrigo 0.

Quarterscores: 18-23, 40-40, 56-57, 76-68

Second Game:

UST 58 – Mariano 22, Abdul 10, Teng 8, Fortuna 8, Bautista 8, Ferrer 2, Vigil 0, Pe 0, Lo 0, Afuang 0.

NU 57 – Parks 15, Mbe 10, De Guzman 8, Rosario 6, Labing-isa 5, Javillonar 4, Betayene 3, Rono 2, Neypes 2, Alolino 2, Villamor 0, Singh 0.

Quarterscores: 11-16, 14-31, 32-42, 51-51 (Reg.), 58-57 (OT).