UST secures first win, rips UP

The University of Santos Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers
got back on fighting form as they clinched
their first victory after trampling the
University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons,
94-74
in the UAAP Season 71 Men’s Basketball
competition at the PhilSports Arena on July 12.

It looked like UP was going for its second straight kill in the opening quarter as the Maroons, powered by Maggy Sison and Jay Agbayani, skyrocketed from a 5-0 deficit to a 9-17 blowout against the Tigers.

UST then started to remind UP which team they were up to showcasing its championship experience as rookie Jeric Fortuna exploded with two treys including a crucial one that put the Tigers back on the driver’s seat with over a minute remaining in the first, 21-19.

Fortuna was on fire extending the Tigers’ lead to 25-19 with 1:09 ticks left in the initial frame.
A foul on UST’s Chris Camus put Andrew Marfori on the line, nailing his two charities to put UP on a four-point deficit, 25-21.

Arvin Braganza threw the last shot for the Fighting Maroons but missed to close the quarter, 26-21, in favor of the Growling Tigers.

The next quarter featured UP’s defense crumbling as UST’s offense surged with Dylan Ababou and Japs Cuan merging to put the España-based squad on a two-digit advantage, 36-26.

Francis Allera delivered a triple to expand the Tigers’ rampage to 15, 46-31 but was quickly equalized by another triple this time by Fighting Maroon Mike Gamboa to cut the deficit, 46-34 with 3:10 minutes left in the second frame.

Jervy Cruz, Mark Canlas and Ababou combined for the Tigers to pull away further mightily closing the first half, 61-43.

The second half was not a different story as the Tigers outshone the Maroons in all departments gaining their biggest lead of 29 points, 79-50 with over 2 minutes remaining in the third regulation.

Ababou propelled UST’s campaign with 20 points followed by Cruz with 15 and Fortuna with 11.

Meanwhile, Sison powered UP’s rally raking in 20 points with Ronald Pajela and Don Carlo Fortu contributing 9 and 8 respectively.

The Tigers’ head coach Pido Jarencio cited the potential of his rookie Fortuna at a time when star player and reigning Most Valuable Player Jervy Cruz was not at his best saying, "Jervy is just 80 percent. But Fortuna, he's really good, he'll be the future star point guard of UST. As I've said, we'll always come up with a surprise."