UST forces rubbermatch vs NU
THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers survived the National University (NU) Bulldogs, 71-62, to force a winner-take-all semis match for a seat in the championship series of the 76th UAAP men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Tigers led by as many as 18 points in the third canto but had to fend off a furious charge by the Bulldogs to hack out the win and become the first team in 20 years to force a grudge match.
That game will be staged on Friday.
History is against UST as no fourth-ranked squad has beaten a top-seed to barge into the finals.
Kevin Ferrer led UST with 14 points off four three-pointers while Aljon Mariano and Tata Bautista had 12 apiece.
UST was leading, 63-45, when NU caught fire behind Bobby Ray Parks, Gelo Alolino and Emmanuel Mbe to trim the deficit to five, 58-63. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio
