Brent Paraiso’s and Renzo Subido’s clutch treys are a testament that University of Santo Tomas is willing to live and die by the three-ball.
And Growling Tigers head coach Aldin Ayo only has one explanation for his wards’ style of play.
“Natural na sa amin ‘yon. Lots of people are asking and actually criticizing us [na] why are we taking lots of three-point shots. Well before you say that, if you can give us a dominant bigs then I will be glad to get those points at the post,” said Ayo, following his Growling Tigers’ 84-78 victory over the Fighting Maroons.
“We don’t have a dominant bigs. Our foreigner [Soulemane Chabi Yo] is a three guy. So if we don’t run, the whole UAAP knows it na ang liliit namin eh, so ‘yun ang tinitira namin.”
Lacking a legitimate big man to match up with the league’s best, Ayo believes that the three-pointer is their best available option. That’s why he has no problem when Paraiso and Subido decided to pull the trigger during the crucial juncture.
Down by two points with 53 seconds left in the clock, Paraiso drained a three-pointer to give the Growling Tigers a one-point advantage. A few plays after, Subido uncorked a trey of his own to finally suck the life out of the Fighting Maroons’ campaign with 26.7 ticks to spare.
“Of course they have the green light because breakdown ‘yun eh.
“With the shot clock winding down, so wala silang ibang gagawin dun kundi to take those shot[s] eh. They’re confident in taking those shots because they’ve been practicing those kinds of shots eh. Pina-practice namin,” said the two-time collegiate champion coach.
As one of the leaders of this young UST team, Subido felt that he had to step up to the challenge and lift the rest of Growling Tigers, especially in testing times like those.
“Nakikita niya ginagawa ko naman sa practice. Wala, I felt na for me if I made it or not, it’s on me eh. As a leader, I’m gonna take that chance,” said Subido, who finished with 13 points built on three three-pointers.
Meanwhile, for Paraiso – who struggled in the first three quarters – he’s just happy knowing that Ayo puts that much faith in him and the rest of the pack.
“When I took the shot, he gives us the go signal to [take] that shots if we’re open, so I was just open. So ‘yun I took the shot, and happily it went in,” said the transferee out of La Salle.
With their guns finally clicking for UST, expect the Growling Tigers to make a hard run for a Final Four spot.
