UAAP: Tigers slip past Bulldogs

University of Santo Tomas rediscovered its shooting touch from downtown in the final period to squeeze out a 59-58 win over National U in the 73rd UAAP men’s basketball tournament on Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum. The Growling Tigers have struggled to find their mark from three-point range and even trailed, 41-38, entering the fourth quarter of a defensive-oriented game controlled by the Bulldogs. The Espana-based cagers, behind Clark Bautista, made five three-pointers and added several defensive stops to secure their third win in five games while NU fell to 2-3. And after NU readjusted its defense, 6-foot-3 Melo Afuang made the Bulldogs pay hitting nine points in the said period including a booming triple that put UST up 59-53 with 2:19 remaining. Kokoy Hermosisima answered with a three of his own to cut the deficit in half but lost precious time down the stretch as Emmanuel Mbe scored inside with only four seconds left to pull within one. The Bulldogs were forced to make two duty fouls with 2.5 ticks to go and failed to get another one as the Tigers found an open Clark Bautista, who ran the clock out to seal the victory. "A win is a win even though the game wasn't that good," said coach Pido Jarencio. "The shooting was really awful but good thing the game was close but in the fourth we were able to make five and that was when we started playing well," he added. Afuang tallied 15 points and five rebounds while Bautista shot 4-of-6 from three-point country to finish with 14 points. Chris Camus had 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals and played a key role in defending Mbe, who quietly produced 10 points and 14 rebounds. "I told him to literally change face with Mbe. Seriously, he played great defense on Mbe. Maybe we made up for our paltry offense with our defense," Jarencio said of Camus. Despite an injured knee he incurred in practice, starting point guard Jeric Fortuna scored six points and dished out nine assists. Jewel Ponferrada led the Sampaloc-based cagers with 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks while Mervin Baloran added 11 points. Hermosisima only had six points on 2-of-8 shooting. It was NU's eighth consecutive defeat over UST since the second round of the 2006 season, the same year the Tigers completed their improbable title run. The Bulldogs held the Tigers to just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first half and even took a 41-38 lead at the end of the third period on a Jerome Tungcul buzzer-beater. – JVP, GMANews.TV