BLEEDING FOR A WIN

Gelo Crisostomo (with ball) rises to the occasion for UST. —PHOTOS BY UAAP MEDIA

University of Santo Tomas (UST) has had the recurring problem of squandering big leads all season-long and it has caused the Growling Tigers to be in a vulnerable position in their UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament campaign.

Although some pressure was lifted off the shoulders of the Tigers, who won their sixth game in 13 games, following a 76-67 victory against third-seeded University of the East at Smart Araneta Coliseum, Santo Tomas is not out of the rut just yet.

“We’re just focused, especially in the last games which will dictate … if we will end up in the Final Four,” coach Pido Jarencio said on Saturday night. “This game was important for us. We saw the desire of the players to win.”

Blood drips to the floor after Tigers standouts Gelo Crisostomo and Mo Tounkara get knocked down by unsportsmanlike fouls from the Warriors’ Precious Momowei.

In the second round alone, the Tigers would have easily been in a much more comfortable position if they managed to keep their leads against University of the Philippines, Ateneo and National University. UST also wiped out a 20-point deficit against La Salle and forced the game to overtime only to lose steam in the five-minute extension.

“Well, I guess it’s the lack of experience,” Christian Manayatay, one of the leaders for UST, said. “But luckily we have been through that in the past few games and we [now] know what to do in case that happens.”

“Either we’re up or we’re trailing, we now know what we need to do and that’s to stick together and listen to the coaches’ game plan,” he added.

A season-high in points from Nic Cabañero fuels UST’s strong start against UE.

The veterans of UST, such as Nic Cabañero and Manaytay, have never been playoff contenders before. Among the standouts in Jarencio’s roster, playmaker Forthsky Padrigao is the only one with UAAP playoff experience having won a championship with Ateneo before transferring to España.

Against the Warriors, UST held a 27-point lead as early as the second frame before UE showed signs of life and cut the deficit to as little as five points.

Thankfully, the Tigers held on until the end this time.

“The secret is that we had an open forum with the coaches and players. The players voiced out their position as well as the coaches, who set what direction we wanted to go,” Jarencio said.

“It was positive that’s why the players were this aggressive and showed their desire and effort,” he added.

Cabañero ended up with a season-high 27 points and eight rebounds. Gelo Crisostomo, the soft-spoken Tiger forward, made noise once again with 14 points and seven rebounds despite being left bloodied in the fourth quarter with an inadvertent elbow from UE big man Precious Momowei.

Automatic suspension

Before fouling out, Manaytay added 10 points and seven rebounds while Mo Tounkara, who also suffered a bloodied nose courtesy of an unsportsmanlike foul by Momowei in the second quarter, pulled down 12 rebounds.

Momowei was ejected after that foul on Crisostomo, which merits an automatic one-game suspension and disqualification from individual awards.

UE, however, plans to appeal for a reversal of the suspension.

“I was going for a layup,” Momowei said of his foul on Crisostomo. “Honestly, I thought it was an and-one then I think I must’ve dropped my elbow. I didn’t know where he was. [It was] unintentional.”

“We will be making an appeal. I hope they accept the appeal because it [hit] was unintentional … I went into the [UST] locker room. I tried my best to apologize.”

Precious Momowei (left) is restrained by US assistant coach Don Allado after he is ejected from the game for committing two unsportsmanlike fouls.

UST remains at the fourth spot with a 6-7 (win-loss) record while UE suffered a third consecutive loss and jeopardized its hold of third place.

But anyone could take the position of those two teams with Far Eastern closely behind with a 5-7 card after sweeping Ateneo—which has been eliminated out of semifinal contention following UST’s win—in an earlier game.

Adamson, which will round out the elimination stage against the Tigers with a make-it-or-break-it matchup, follows with a 4-7 record before the suddenly-revitalized National University with 4-8.

“The team is focused … we knew what will happen because this is the second round—the game and theme will change [because] everyone wants to climb up and reach the Final Four,” Jarencio said. “All of them.”

“I just told them to just receive everything, the important thing is we play fair and we don’t hurt anyone. We play physically but not rough. The young ones are ready,” he added.