The Varsitarian

24 May 2013, 4:21 p.m. - THE UST Growling Tigers rallied from 11 points down to fashion out a 93-86 overtime victory over the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates at the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan Friday afternoon.

The Tigers were down, 44-55, at the 5-minute mark of the third frame before Aljon Mariano came alive in the payoff period.

Mariano, who scored a game-high 31 points to go with eight rebounds, converted on three consecutive and-one fastbreak layups to pull UST to within one, 58-59, with 8:53 left in regulation.  read more »

24 May 2013, 1:09 p.m. - THE UST Tiger Cubs suffered a lopsided 71-92 loss against the National University in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan Friday morning.

With the loss, the Cubs dropped out of contention with a 1-3 card while NU remained at third place behind San Beda and Letran with a 3-2 win-loss record.

NU led by as much as 25 in the third period but UST fought back with a 12-1 run early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 14, 60-74. But Chino Mosqueda responded with a 3-point play at the other end with 7:35 remaining to push the lead back to 17.  read more »

23 May 2013, 7:19 p.m. - A LATE-GAME meltdown doomed the UST Lady Spikers in the opening game of their best-of-three, battle-for-third series against the Adamson Lady Falcons at the Shakey's V-League.

Despite leading 2 sets to 1, the Lady Spikers faltered during key stretches on several occasions en route to a heartbreaking 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 12-15 loss at the Mall of Asia Thursday evening.

Maika Ortiz and guest player Aiza Maizo led UST with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Shiela Pineda and guest player Angela Benting carried the offensive load for Adamson with 23 markers apiece.  read more »

18 May 2013, 5:43 p.m. - THE UST Growling Tigers started slow and never got going as they absorbed a 68-85 beating against the University of the East in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan Saturday afternoon.

Tigers' head coach Pido Jarencio opted to field second stringers Kim Lo, Paolo Pe, Robert Hainga, and Robin Tan - with only Jeric Teng as the veteran - at the start of the tournament he repeatedly called a "tune-up."

"I am making the final selection for the UAAP," Jarencio said. "I am utilizing all the players to see who can and cannot be lined up [in the UAAP]."  read more »

16 May 2013, 10:40 p.m. - THE ATENEO de Manila University finished off the UST Lady Spikers in two games to enter the finals of the Shakey's V-League tournament.

UST missed the finals for the first time in 10 years after losing Game 2 of the semifinal encounter versus Ateneo , 13-25, 25-23, 23-25, 13-25, at the Mall of Asia Arena Thursday evening.

Maika Ortiz led UST with 14 points while Carmela Tunay added 10 markers. Guest player Jeng Bualee led the way for Ateneo with a game-high 22 points.  read more »

14 May 2013, 5:41 p.m. - THE UST Lady Spikers started strong but lost steam in the end as Ateneo took Game 1 of their semifinal encounter, 25-20, 15-25, 27-29, 14-25, in the Shakey's V-League at the Philsports Arena Tuesday afternoon.

UST was impressive in the opening frame with a balanced attack and tight floor defense, but faltered in the succeeding sets. Maika Ortiz topscored for UST with 13 points. Guest player Aiza Maizo led UST in the nail-biting exchange in the third set with 10 points.

Alyssa Valdez carried load for the Lady Eagles with 25 points, while Thai reinforcement Jeng Bualee, who just suited up for Ateneo in the semifinals, added 19 markers. read more »

13 May 2013, 2:14 a.m. - IS THERE finally a Catholic vote?

The 2013 elections mark the first time Catholic lay groups banded together to aggressively push the “prolife” agenda by endorsing candidates and educating Catholic voters.

An alliance of around 50 lay organizations called the “White Vote Movement” endorsed 10 candidates for senator last April in a bid to “protect family and life,” following last year’s passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Law, which seeks billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money to promote artificial contraception, sterilization and sex education nationwide.  read more »

12 May 2013, 11:15 p.m. - Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana, the “First Lady of Philippine Theater,” died Sunday morning due to a lingering sickness. She was 96.

Avellana, who was proclaimed National Artist for Theater in 1999, was an acclaimed thespian, writer and director, with a career spanning theater, radio, television and film.

She is best known for her lead role of Candida Marasigan in the stage adaptation of Nick Joaquin’s “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino” in 1955. Avellana reprised the role in the 1965 film adaptation of Joaquin’s portrayal of life in the dying days of Old Manila.  read more »

11 May 2013, 8:31 p.m. - CLARK Bautista came up big down the stretch and scored the game-winning basket as the UST Growling Tigers pulled off a come-from-behind 78-77 win against Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the FilOil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan Saturday afternoon.

With 3.7 seconds left in the game, Bautista faked a three-point attempt against Letran bigman Raymond Almazan then drove along the left baseline for an easy layup. Letran's Mark Cruz missed his jumper in the final possession as UST notched its third win in five games.  read more »

11 May 2013, 8:25 p.m. - THE UST Tigresses went through the eye of the needle before scoring a 66-60 victory against the College of Saint Benilde in the FilOil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan Saturday afternoon.

Marian Mejia, who ignited a 9-0 surge in the last frame to help UST pull away, led the Tigresses with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Janine Ong added 13 markers for UST, which overcame a 40-36 Benilde lead heading into the last period.

Jen Mayol paced the Lady Blazers with 19 markers and 11 boards. Ralph Joshua D. R. Hernandez  read more »