The Varsitarian

NOT EVEN basketball pundits could have predicted that the team which was nowhere to be found in the off-season would pull off a surprise opening game win last Saturday.

Absent in pre-UAAP tune-ups, the Growling Tigers were a revelation, at least in their Season 73 curtain-raiser, by subduing a highly favored University of the East squad via 80-67 score at the Big Dome last July 10.

The Tigers rode on a torrid fourth quarter shooting to bury last year’s UAAP runner-up.

“Since last year, people have been saying the same comments about us, that we are a weak team,” UST’s top scorer Jeric Teng said. “The best we can do is to believe in our own abilities and trust that we can do it and we’ll fight. It’s still a long way to go and a lot of things can still happen.”

Teng, Season 72’s Rookie of the Year, was the catalyst of UST’s gutsy salvo in the fourth frame, scoring seven of his 15 points in the final canto. He got ample support from Clark Bautista, who sizzled with 14 points, nine of which all came from the three-point line in the first quarter.

Chris Camus finished with a double-double with 10 points and 15 boards.

Teng knocked down a couple of crucial free throws within the final minute of the match that gave UST a nine-point cushion at 76-67.

He followed it up with a basket following a feed from rookie Eduardo Daquiog off a Camus steal. Camus buried his two gift shots that eventually gave UST its first win in the season. UE Red Warrior Raphy Reyes took a desperation shot but to no avail.

Daquiog scored 10 points in his debut game for UST in a solid performance highlighted by an and-one play in the final 3:53 minutes of the game. The fastbreak layup gave the Tigers a comfortable 68-57 lead.

UE hotshot Paul Lee sank a layup that temporarily stopped the bleeding for the Warriors, 68-59, but freethrows continued to hurt coach Lawrence Chongson’s wards as Kenneth Acibar missed his two charities.

UE registered a measly 35.7 percent average from the line compared to UST’s 81.3 percent.

Acibar, who stunned the crowd with his alley-oop jam in the second quarter, had a double-double performance of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Ebrahim Enguio added 10 points.

“These past few weeks, coach (Pido Jarencio) had been emphasizing to us the value of defense and that’s what we did,” said Teng, whose defense limited Lee to only seven points the entire game. “We are still working it out as a team and hopefully we can adjust.”

The Scores:

UST 80 – Teng 15, Bautista 14, Daquiog 10, Camus 10, Afuang 10, Mariano 7, Pe 4, Fortuna 4, Aytona 4, Tinte 2, Mamaril 0, Lo 0.

UE 67 – Acibar 17, Enguio 10. Zamar 9, Reyes 8, Martinez 7, Lee 7, Santos 5, Ayala 4, Razon 0, Casajeros 0, Duran 0.

Quarterscores: 17-12, 29-31, 57-55, 80-67.