UST ends As-Pac tilt in high spirits despite loss
SINGAPORE—UST-SHS officially bid goodbye to its 2026 NBA Rising Stars Invitational championship dreams on Thursday at OCBC Arena here but the Junior Growling Tigresses left the court smiling.
Despite absorbing a close 81-78 loss at the hands of Australia’s Rowville Secondary College, the girls from España found something to be happy about despite their elimination.
“Coach (Aresnio Dysangco) told us that it’s already an honor to be here so we just enjoyed our time here. We just enjoyed the game,” Tigress Lea Pinuela told the Inquirer after UST’s two-game stint in Group B of the Asia-Pacific tournament.
“Win or lose, the important thing for us was to enjoy the game.”
In the end, UST-SHS failed to make the semifinals, ending group action with a 1-1 record. They won their opener against Mongolia’s Royal International School on Wednesday.
Still, the young Tigresses put up a good fight.
Trailing Rowville by six halfway through the fourth quarter, 71-65, the Junior Tigresses went on an 8-3 blitz to slice the deficit to one, 74-73, with 57.7 seconds remaining.
Vanessa Tavete, however, took matters into her own hands with a corner triple, followed by two made free throws, to stop UST-SHS’ momentum, 79-73, with 35 ticks to go.
“I felt in the last few minutes that the game was going to be in our favor because we knew they were getting tired,” Dysangco said. “We tried to be more patient with our offense and speed up the tempo of the game but it just so happens that they were able to make that three.”
Sofia Petalcorin tried to will the Tigresses back into contention with a personal 5-2 run to cut the lead to three, 81-78.
And UST earned a shot with 15 seconds left in the game, as Rowville’s inbound was picked off by Rhiane Perez. But UST could not capitalize.
“I don’t think I needed to fire these kids up [because] they were really excited to play for their country, their school and their families,” said Dysangco.
“They were really excited because some of these players played internationally for the first time.”
Tiedore Pouch dominated for the Australian side with a monster double-double of 33 points and 19 rebounds. Tavete and Bridgette Kata also registered double-doubles of their own.
Tavete had 19 and 10 while Kata tallied 10 and 12.
Pinuela and Petalcorin finished with 16 points each in the UST-SHS loss.
