Sherwin Concepcion turned up the heat with his three-point shooting as he dragged University of Santo Tomas towards a 74-62 win over University of the East in the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Thursday evening, at the closed-door SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With the game tied at 62-all with 3:26 to go in the fourth quarter, Concepcion sunk two threes in a 10-0 run that allowed UST to have a 70-62 separation from UE with 2:01 to go in the contest. The Red Warriors then tried to retaliate but they just could not find a basket.
On the other end, Dave Ando eluded his defenders to increase the Growling Tigers’ lead to 72-62 with 1:10 remaining in the ballgame. The contest was all but settled at that point and Nic Cabanero’s free throws were the icing on the cake for UST.
Concepcion led the Growling Tigers with 25 points at the back of six-out-of-nine shooting from the perimeter along with five rebounds and three assists.
“Unang-una, thank God for this win,” said UST coach Jinino Manansala. “Mahirap yung laban pero down the stretch, nakita namin yung strengths namin kaya nakuha namin yung panalo.”
Cabanero and Christian Manaytay followed Concepcion’s lead with 12 points each while Bryan Santos produced 10 points and 12 rebounds. Joshua Fontanilla contributed eight points and eight assists for UST.
Thanks to Concepcion’s contribution, UST won the game thanks to its 32.1 percent three-point shooting over UE’s 18.5 percent. The Growling Tigers also prevailed in the battle of the boards with 44 over the Red Warriors’ 34.
“Ito naman para sa Thomasian community,” added Manansala. “Every game, we dedicate sa Thomasian community. Ito na po yung hinihintay nila na panalo. Long way to go. Our families, malayo kami sa kanila. Salamat sa dasal.”
On the UE side, two-and-through student-athlete Orin Catacutan led the Red Warriors with 17 points and five rebounds followed by Harvey Pagsanjan’s 10 points. Clint Escamis had nine points and five rebounds as well.
Both schools shall next play on Saturday in the SM MOA Arena. UE (0-3) takes on University of the Philippines at 1:00 PM while UST (1-2) goes up against Adamson University after at 4:00 PM.
The Scores:
UST 74 – Concepcion 25, Cabanero 12, Manaytay 12, Santos 10, Fontanilla 8, Yongco 3, Ando 2, Pangilinan 2, Manalang 0, Garing 0, Mantua 0, Samudio 0, Gomez de Liano 0, Canoy 0.
UE 62 – Catacutan 17, Pagsanjan 10, Escamis 9, Antiporda 7, Lorenzana 5, Paranada N. 4, Beltran 4, Guevarra 4, Sawat 2, Paranada K. 0, Tulabut 0. Cruz 0, Villanueva 0.
Quarterscores: 25-24, 36-39, 50-53, 74-62.
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