The UST Growling Tigers nabbed a much-needed win at the expense of the UE Red Warriors to revitalize their bid for the Final Four of UAAP Season 88.
The UST Growling Tigers snapped out of their slump with a resounding victory against the winless UE Red Warriors in their second round encounter in UAAP Season 88, 109-97, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Wednesday.
UST, who had lost four games in a row, nabbed their 6th win of the season and propelled themselves into provisional solo fourth place in the standings until the next UAAP game day.
The Growling Tigers ran away to start thanks to a first quarter where they outscored the Red Warriors, 33-16.
UE struggled to find their rhythm offensively in their second game without captain John Abate, who has been deemed out of the season. Meanwhile, UST were effective on finding their spots, finishing with a 52.9 percent shooting clip.
15 different players saw action for head coach Pido Jarencio in the victory where they led by as much as 27 points in the wire-to-wire win.
Even as UE rallied in the fourth quarter, with the lead going down to nine, 83-92, after a pair of free throws from Dylan Despi with 4:32 ticks left in the ballgame, Mark Llemit bailed out the Growling Tigers with back-to-back triples to push the lead back to 17, 100-83, with 3:48 remaining.
Collins Akowe powered the Growling Tigers with a double-double of 16 points and 16 boards. Gelo Crisostomo, who helped build UST’s strong start, added 14 markers.
UST rises above .500 at 6-5 while UE crashes to 0-12 and aer now losers of 18 straight.
The Growling Tigers face fellow Final Four contender next on Saturday, November 15, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.