By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
The University of Sto. Tomas Growling Tigers avoided the infamy of having a winless season with a heart-stopping 88-85 victory over the University of East Red Warriors at the Araneta Coliseum.
But the win did not come easy for UST. The Red Warriors forced a turnover off an inbound pass with less than 30 seconds remaining to cut the Tigers lead down to one.
UE almost forced another turnover on the ensuing play but UST calmly converted their free throws down the stretch to preserve the win, their lone victory in UAAP Season 80.
With the win, UST will finish with a record of 1-13, arguably the worst in the school’s history.
UST head coach Boy Sablan faced tremendous backlash and criticism even from within the UST community itself.
With much coveted import Steve Akomo playing for the team, the Growling Tigers were expected to be much more competitive.
It remains to be seen if Sablan is to remain as the head coach of UST after this season.
For UE, the rebuilding continues after going 3-11 this season.
The only team to play this year without an import, UE was actually the team a lot of pundits expected to be at the bottom of the standings for this season.
But led by relative unknowns high-scoring chunky forward Alvin Pasaol and speedster Philip Manalang, the Red Warriors defied the odds and gave a lot of teams a scare and even played spoilers against teams gunning for a Final Four spot.
Akomo displayed a Herculean effort to lift UST to its lone win of the season, scoring 18 points, hauling 20 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. Reggie Basibas led all UST scorers with 21, Eric Caunan added 14 while Marvin Lee scored 11 points.
Pasaol led the Red Warriors with 18 points. Jason Varilla scored 16 points today for UE with Mark Maloles adding 15 markers.
