RESCUE MISSION
University of Santo Tomas started UAAP Season 88 like a contender in a hurry.
The Tigers jumped to a 4-1 record in the men’s basketball tournament in a manner that left its opponents gasping—in the case of Ateneo during a triple-overtime duel, almost literally.
But as quickly as their status as title contenders rose, the Tigers halted.
Full stop. Screeching. UST’s strong start didn’t just lose steam; it turned into a free fall—from Big Bang to Big Crunch in a snap of a cosmic finger.
In a lot of those losses, it was easy to pinpoint what went wrong.
In their fourth loss through five games since their blazing start, the Tigers missed 24 free throws in a one-point loss to defending champion University of the Philippines.
For a team that went from tempering expectations to talking about the need to hang together in the middle of a crisis, that defeat gave the Tigers a starting point.
If they were to salvage a season, they would need to do it together—even when it came to relearning free throws.
“We’ve been working as a team in terms of free throw,” Collins Akowe, the team’s hardworking foreign student-athlete, said. “After and before practice, we stay there to shoot free throws as a team. We don’t do it individually.”
There was still much to be desired on Wednesday, when the Tigers swamped winless University of the East, 109-97, to improve to 6-5.
After shooting just 54 percent from the stripe against the Maroons, UST made 24 out of 39 attempts against the Warriors (62 percent), good enough against a team with little to fight for.
Akowe personified that improvement, going 6-of-10 after missing half his free throws against UP.
But the Tigers know they need to get better—together.
Saved by offense
At one point during the season, they shared the tournament lead and were largely in the hunt for a Final Four bonus. Now, UST needs wins to gain a more solid footing in the next round.
“Heading into the coming games, we will keep working and hopefully, we get better … [and] come out in future games and get some wins,” Akowe said.
The win against UE will give UST some momentum, especially since it was built on the same road the Tigers took to that 4-0 star: Dizzying start, offense-heavy.
There were traces of the stall that led to that string of avoidable defeats—the Warriors managed to bite off a 20-point third-quarter lead, coming to within nine in the fourth.
But UST turned to its offense again, knocking two triples late in the game to take a 100-83 spread.
The Tigers earned a reprieve. But there’s still work to be done.
“We want that unity. We need to stay together during these tough times,” Akowe said. “I’m kind of happy because at least we still showed progress.” —with a report from Rommel Fuertes Jr.
