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A lot was at stake for University of Santo Tomas (UST) heading into a crucial matchup against Adamson in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
A defeat would have meant that the Tigers would put their Final Four fate on the hands of other teams.
Oddly, Santo Tomas’ solution was to stop thinking of scenarios.
“As a team, we prepared to just enjoy the game,” rookie forward Amiel Acido said Saturday.
“We didn’t think about how important this game was so as a team, we just … [executed] our game,” Acido added after finishing with a game-high 14 points from an 80-percent shooting from beyond the arc.
The prized recruit from the Perpetual Help high school program, who struggled all season to find his place in the UST rotation, produced his best game as a Tiger right when his team needed it most and sparked UST’s 75-49 rout of Adamson.
It was the first time in five seasons that UST booked a semifinal seat. And coach Pido Jarencio couldn’t care less about the last Tigers crew that made it that far.
“I wasn’t the coach then,” Jarencio, who danced in front of the UST crowd after the win, said.
Reason to be confident
He’s here now, leading a crew that tabbed the third seed of the Final Four and will need to crack No. 2 University of the Philippines’ twice-to-beat shell to make it all the way to the Finals.
“This is our moment so we’ll make our own story,” Jarencio said. “We have different players now, UP has stronger players now but … I’m confident with my players.”
They gave him reason to be confident by shedding whatever pressure Saturday’s schedule presented and playing strong on both ends of the floor in the third quarter to pull away from a one-point game at halftime.
“Us players talked and [agreed] to not think about the pressure,” said playmaker Forthsky Padrigao. “[We decided] to just play how we really [play] and enjoy like how we practiced in the past four days for this game. [We were] loose and enjoying.”
“I think we saw that on the court earlier with how we played so I think our preparation really was the key to our performance,” he added.
Padrigao finished with seven points and dished out six assists and knows he will play a vital role as the Tigers face the bigger problem of forging an upset against the Maroons.
But Padrigao is prepared.
“This is a familiar territory [for me] and I know that our games will only get harder from now on. All of our remaining games will be do-or-die,” Padrigao said. “But we are really happy with the win and after just a day or two of rest, we will be facing UP again.”
Acido sparked a UST offense that produced 23 third-quarter points but it was the Tigers’ defense that came to fore, holding the Falcons to just four points in that same stretch.
The Tigers will need to repeat that strong third quarter eight times against a Maroons squad they haven’t figured out yet this season.
“It will be hard to defeat UP twice so we really need to be prepared,” said Padrigao, a champion with Ateneo before transferring to UST.
Nic Cabañero, who will be going to his first Final Four appearance in his four-year stay with the Tigers, also played a big part in the all-important second half where he scored 12 of his 13 points. Malian center Mo Tounakara had an all-around performance of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Adamson remains in the hunt for a semifinal ticket despite absorbing its eighth loss in 13 games. The Falcons will be in another must-win game to end its elimination campaign against Ateneo next Saturday while hoping that the University of the East loses to the Fighting Maroons on Wednesday to force a playoff for the last Final Four berth. —WITH A REPORT FROM ROMMEL FUERTES JR.
