Tigers recover to beat Knights

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers completed a comeback from 17 points down and banked on a clutch shot by Tata Bautista to hack out a thrilling 78-77 win over the Letran Knights in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Preseason Cup yesterday at the Arena in San Juan City.

Playing their second game in as many games, the Tigers fell behind by 17 huge points, 52-69, in the final canto. However, they clawed their way back to the game and found an open Bautista, who calmly made the shot with 3.7 seconds remaining to clinch the victory.

Aljon Mariano scored nine straight to fuel the fightback and finished the game with a 17-8 run to hike their record to 3-2 (win-loss), the same as their victims.

Mariano finished with 18 points while Bautista added 17. Kevin Ferrer had 15 points.

Raymund Almazan had 17 for the Knights while Mark Cruz chipped in 13.

BOX SCORES:

UST (78) – Mariano 18, Bautista 17, Ferrer 15, Daquioag 9, Lo 6, Pe 4, Hainga 4, Tan 3, Gavia 2, Sheriff 0, Marata 0, Lao 0, Faundo 0.

Letran (77) – Almazan 17, Cruz 13, Gabawan 13, Nambatac 8, Buenaflor 7, Luib 6, Publico 4, Po 3, Castro 2, Ruaya 2, Dysam 2. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio