THE UNIVERSITY of Sto. Tomas Growling Tigers inched closer to the top of the standings after they defeated the University of the East Red Warriors, 85-69, in the 75th UAAP men’s basketball tournament last Sunday evening at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Growling Tigers put their record at 4-1(win-loss), just a step behind the league-leading Ateneo Blue Eagles and Far Eastern University Tamaraws, who each hold identical 5-1 marks.
The Tigers grabbed the win in spite of the absence of their top gun Jeric Teng, who missed the game because of a knee injury.
Stepping up in Teng’s absence were Karim Abdul and sophomore Kevin Ferrer, with the former scoring 20 points and grabbing 19 rebounds while the latter scored 16 markers. Aljon Mariano also chipped in 12 points.
The game was decided in the second period, where UST turned what was a four-point game into an 18-point bulge as they outgunned the Red Warriors, 26-12 in that stretch.
The Red Warriors fell to their fifth loss in as many games./Correspondent Jonas Panerio