Pido tweets: Spare Mariano, blame me

Jeric proud of leaving an impact as King Tiger

MANILA, Philippines - University of Santo Tomas coach Pido Jarencio has taken the blame for the Tigers’ bungled title campaign in the UAAP Finals and appealed to online bashers of Aljon Mariano to stop crucifying his veteran player.

After shunning media interviews in the aftermath of the Tigers’ failure to win the UAAP men’s basketball title against eventual champion La Salle, 69-71, in overtime Jarencio took to social media via his Twitter account @pidojarencio1 to say his piece.

“To my beloved thomasians nothing to blane (blame) but me its all my fault. Ty for your prayers and support godbless!!!” Jarencio posted Sunday.

He rarely posts on his Twitter account but that day, he even wrote a follow up twit, an appeal on behalf of embattled Mariano, who has become the target of hate from UST fans for his glaring errors in Game Three that cost the Tigers the championship.

“to my beloved thomasians pls stop cursing aljon, dnt blame him ako na lng pls. win or lose we r one!!” Jarencio twitted while licking his wounds in his native Capiz province.

Mariano became the whipping boy of Tigers’ supporters with his lackluster performance in the finals, compounded more by his decision to shoot what seemed to be an ill-advised trey that missed its mark in the final 6.1 seconds of regulation and a big-time turnover that led to an ensuing offensive capped by Almond Vosotros’ go ahead jumper.

Meanwhile, graduating Tigers star Jeric Teng sees a silver lining in the emotion-filled final chapter of his collegiate career.

For the Tigers’ veteran skipper, coming back from an assortment of injuries and being able to play at a high-level basketball in their improbable climb from the lower rungs to the finale already gave him a lot to be thankful for.

“Very tough dahil when I went to UST in my rookie year, sabi ko I wanted to graduate sana with a championship. Siguro it’s not for me (It was very tough because I would have wanted to graduate with a championship. But perhaps it was not really meant to be),” said Teng.

The 6-foot-2 Teng shared how he felt his fifth and last season would have already ended halfway through the season. He missed seven games in the elims due to, first a shoulder injury, then a hamstring injury, and with him on sick bay, the Tigers struggled to a 4-5 record and sixth spot.  

Teng’s return rejuvenated UST and they went on to nail the fourth and last Final Four berth, toppled top seed National U en route to a championship berth and got to within a play or two away from going all the way.

“When I got injured, akala ko hindi na ako makakabalik. Yung paglalaro ko pa lang uli, blessing na yun. Every game, sinabi ko lang sana ma-extend pa ako, yun nga, ginawa ni God, inextend ako (We received a lot of blessings already. Personally, being able to get back from injury and extend my collegiate career was a big blessing already).”

“Sobra-sobra na siguro kung binigay pa sa amin ang championship (It would have been asking too much if we were to win the title). We started from No. 6, dahan-dahan kami umakyat (we painstakingly worked our way up). I think we’re blessed na to be in this situation,” said Teng, experiencing a bitter-sweet feeling with his own loss and the victory of kid brother Jeron over at La Salle.

He had spent some time on his knees at the hardcourt, crying his heart out after the Tigers squandered a good chance to capture the title and instead yielded a 69-71 overtime loss the Archers.

“Nakakapanghinayang, we were very close to getting the championship and making history pero (but) we made some crucial mistakes and La Salle won,” said Teng, who shot 24 points with six rebounds and three assists in his final UAAP game.

The miscues came at most unfortunate time and proved costly. 

With the score tied at 65, the Tigers got 6.1 seconds to put up a game-winner but instead of putting the ball at the hands of Karim Abdul, inbounds-receiver Mariano took matters into his own hands, fired a trey and missed.

“Ang play talaga namin dun ke Karim. Sabi ni Karim, ibigay sa kanya ang bola kahit ano’ng mangyari, matalo’t manalo, sa kanya ang bola. Ang nangyari, na-deny si Karim, si Aljon lumabas. Pero dapat yung ginawa ni Aljon, he attacked the basket (The play was for Abdul. But he was denied by defenders and and Aljon was the one who came out and received the inbounds. But what he should have done was attacked the basket instead),” said UST assistant coach Estong Ballesteros.

In overtime, the Tigers were up by one with 30 seconds left and Mariano got the defensive rebound off Jeron Teng’s missed freethrow. But he quickly launched a strong crosscourt pass that Kevin Ferrer couldn’t reach and went out of bounds. In resulting play, Almond Vosotros drained a jumper for the go-ahead.