The UST Growling Tigresses were swept by the defending champions the NU Lady Bulldogs in Game 2 of UAAP women’s basketball tournament, 66-54, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay Saturday, Nov. 23.

The Tigresses hoped to live another day as they battled against the defending champions but failed as the Lady Bulldogs started the game strong and never looked back. 

UST was able to inch as close as 10 points in the payoff period before the Lady Bulldogs replied with an 18-4 run that immediately brought the lead out of reach in the final minutes.

Reynalyn Ferrer and MVP Grace Irebu were the key players for UST during the game as they had 16 and 11 points respectively.

On the other hand, NU continued its six-peat with three of their players scoring double digits in Monique del Carmen and Kaye Pingol who had 15 points apiece and Rhema Itesi with 12.

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Even as they were able to go hold their own against the defending champs, the UST Growling Tigers were swept by the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 79-86, in Game 2 of the best-of-three UAAP season 82 men’s basketball finals at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay Wednesday, Nov. 20. 

Just like the opening game, Ateneo got off to a fiery start and outscored the Tigers 31-18 within the first ten minutes of the contest. 

The second quarter saw a low scoring affair with UST jumping out to an 8-2 run that cut down the Blue Eagles’ once 13-point lead to seven. 

Even with the strong showing from the Tigers which included outscoring the defending champs 14-11 in the canto, Ateneo still managed to bring a 10 point lead into halftime, mainly due to the efforts of Pat Maagdenberg and the graduating Thirdy Ravena. 

Both teams came alive in the third quarter, with UST posting 30 points and Ateneo with 25, which saw UST and Ateneo going mano y mano on the offensive end. 

UST was able to get as close as one point to open the fourth quarter corteousy of team captain CJ Cansino before a quick 5-0 spurt from Thirdy Ravena and SJ Belangel re-extended the lead to four. 

After a slow scoring affair throughout the duration of the quarter, the Tigers were once again able to get as close as four points with over a minute to play after a Sherwin Concepcion triple brought the game to 71-75. 

However, as UST was inching close to a comeback, Thirdy Ravena and Ange Kouame combined forces to quickly unleash a huge 8-0 blast that iced the game and secured the championship for them. 

Thirdy Ravena once again led Ateneo with 17 points and seven rebounds in his swan song. SJ Belangel on the other hand chipped in 15 points built on five triples. 

Outgoing team captain Matt Nieto had an efficient final game as well with 14 points on a 60% shooting clip, complemented by six rebounds and five assists. 

For the Tigers, Rhenz Abando had a 16-point effort, with nine of them coming in the Tigers’ high scoring third quarter. Rookie of the Year Mark Nonoy poured in 14 points to complement Abando’s performance, while MVP Soulemane Chabi Yo had a double-double of 11 points and 19 boards.

With the win, Ateneo now caps off their dream season by becoming the first team in UAAP men’s basketball to complete a 16-0 sweep.

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With their 68-65 win over the UP Fighting Maroons on Wednesday, the UST Growling Tigers are officially headed to the UAAP men’s basketball tournament finals after four long years to face the currently unbeaten Ateneo Blue Eagles this Saturday. 

For team captain CJ Cansino however, this finals appearance means so much more considering how his super-rookie season came to an abrupt end in Season 81 when he went down with an ACL injury against the same opponent in the same venue and UST’s campaign went completely downhill as they lost their last four games without him in the lineup.

“Sobrang saya ko. Kahit di ako naka contribute nang malaki, nakapasok naman kami ng finals. Iba talaga yung feeling pag pumapasok ng finals eh, dahil simula noong pumasok ako ng UST high school, pangarap ko na talaga ipasok ang UST sa finals,” Cansino quipped in an exclusive interview with TomasinoWeb. 

Despite only scoring two points, Cansino managed to pull down eight rebounds for the España-based squad in the closeout game against the Maroons. 

“Di ko maexplain eh. Bigla nalang tumulo yung luha ko tas tinignan ko yung mga tao and gaano sila kasaya. Sobrang sarap sa feeling,” he added when asked to describe the feeling of a finals appearance.

Cansino and the rest of the Tigers will look to draw first blood against the Ateneo De Manila University Blue Eagles as they play game one of the finals on Saturday.

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