Tigers' fate could change as season 73 progresses

UAAP observers picked University of Santo Tomas (UST) to be the cellar-dweller in Season 73 of the senior’s basketball tournament.

But UST coach Pido Jarencio believes that could change after a Growling Tigers side –a mix of remnants of last year’s squad and a bunch of unknown rookies – pulled off a stunning 80-67 victory over 2009 finalist University of the East last Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum. "I have told you before that one of my players will step up," said Jarencio in Filipino after the game. "Actually, I give credit to all my players. For almost four months they poured it all during practice. We didn't join any (preseason) tournament for fear it would affect the morale of my players," he added. Opting to skip the summer preseason tournaments, the España-based cagers also encountered problems in recruiting players losing high school junior standouts Kyle Neypes and Cedric Labing-isa, two players currently spending a year of residency with National University as the Bulldogs now has a strong financial backing. But Jarencio got solid gems such as former Rizal Technological University high school standout Eduardo Daquiaog, who scored all of his 10 points in the second half. His holdovers – reigning Rookie of the Year winner Jeric Teng, Chris Camus, Clark Bautista and Melo Afuang – also provided the needed lift for the Growling Tigers. Teng paced UST's scoring with 15 points and played stingy defense on UE's main man Paul Lee, who was held to just seven points on a dismal 2-of-10 field goal shooting while Camus registered 10 points and 15 rebounds. The Tigers trailed by just two points (31-29) as it struggled against the free-flowing offense of the Red Warriors, who got 17 points from sophomore forward Kenneth Acibar including a slam in the face of Camus. The Tigers led by just two points (57-55) after three periods but pulled away in the final 10 minutes of the contest. – JVP, GMANews.TV