Tigers get back on warpath, rip Tams

MANILA, Philippines - The real “Tigers” finally showed up as University of Santo Tomas bounced back from its disappointing season-opener with a 69-67 victory over giant-killers Far Eastern U yesterday in the second game of the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Tigers, who lost badly to the National U Bulldogs, 40-59, in their first assignment last week, played with a lot more fire and brought down an FEU side that came into the game riding on the crest of its 82-77 disposal of defending champions La Salle in its prior outing.

“We prepared for this game and executed things according to game plan,” UST coach Bong dela Cruz, who picked up his first win at the helm, said in Pilipino.

“We discussed what went wrong in our loss to NU, what our mistakes were, and we made the adjustments and the boys delivered. Now the boys showed how Tigers really play,” he added.

Making up for his so-so showing last time, Kevin Ferrer struck with 18 points, firing two clutch triples plus a jumper and an interception in payoff period to help UST grab a 67-62 cushion going into the last 1:57.

Karim Abdul added 16 and six boards in a usual steady play and Kent Lao pulled off a breakout game of 14 markers, topping his heroics off with the insurance basket as UST caught FEU in a tie for fourth with 1-1.

“The cancellation of our game against UE last Wednesday became a blessing in disguise for us, we’re able to prepare for almost a week against FEU,” said Ferrer, who improved on his five-point performance the first time.

“Forgotten” in UST’s rotation in their first game, Lao made sure everyone remembers him now with his 6-of-8 shooting clip, two of them converted in the crucial fourth.

“I just grabbed the opportunity given me by coach, tried to make the most out of it and focus on the job,” said Lao, who played 22 minutes yesterday after spending the entire game against NU on the bench.

Dela Cruz also pointed to a key stats - 14 assists –  which was a big improvement from the Tigers’ meager three feeds last time.

Mac Belo (19 points) and Mike Tolomia (14) led the way for FEU.

“UST had a very good game plan, alam nila ginagawa nila (They knew what to do against us),” said FEU coach Nash Racela.