UST staves off Adamson in Season 85 men's basketball opener

c/o UAAP

The University of Santo Tomas held on to a 69-60 victory over Adamson to kick off the men's basketball tournament for the 85th season of the UAAP on Saturday afternoon at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

The Growling Tigers rode on the shoulders of Nic Cabañero in the victory, as they staved off an attempted comeback by the Soaring Falcons.

With Jerom Lastimosa's triple to make it a three-point game at 60-57 with under a minute left, Cabañero nailed a jumper with 33 seconds left to re-establish a two-possession lead.

Adamson had a chance to come closer in the next few seconds, but Lastimosa missed a three, Lenda Douanga missed two free throws, and Joem Sabandal was charged with a turnover.

After free throw splits from Paul Manalang and Christian Manaytay make it 67-60, with Cabañero capping off his day by making two free throws for the final score and his 32nd and 33rd points.

Nic would add a steal, a couple of rebounds and four assists in almost 32.5 minutes of action for UST. He shared afterwards to the media, "Sobrang overwhelmed and blessed kasi pinagdadasal ko kasi I'm turning 19 kasi this Monday. Lagi kong ipinagdadasal na ibigay sa amin itong first win, hindi lang first pati 'yung upcoming games."

The victory gave head coach Bal David a winning debut in the league, one that he won titles with as a player with the Growling Tigers in the 90s. He says, "It's overwhelming kasi grabe 'yung suporta ng Thomasian community. We're very grateful nandiyan sila through thick and thin."

Adama Faye contributed a game-high fifteen rebounds, a couple of steals, and a couple of rejections, with Manaytay ending up with seven markers.

Douanga led Adamson with a double-double performance with thirteen points and thirteen rebounds, while Joshua Yerro also scoring thirteen of his own.

Lastimosa finished with ten markers on 4/11 shooting.

UST will have a chance to net back-to-back victories on Wednesday against La Salle at 430pm, with Adamson trying to bounce back against defending champions UP at 1pm. Both games comprise half of the quadruple-header at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

The Scores:

UST 69 -- Cabanero 33, Manaytay 7, Faye 6, Pangilinan 6, Mantes 5, Mantua 4, Calimag 3, Duremdes 2, Herrera 2, Manalang 1, Lazarte 0, Magdangal 0, Laure 0.

Adamson 60 -- Douanga 13, Yerro 13, Lastimosa 10, Hanapi 10, Sabandal 9, V. Magbuhos 3, Barcelona 2, Colonia 0, Manzano 0, Flowers 0, Barasi 0, Torres 0, Manlapaz 0, Jaymalin 0.

Quarterscores: 23-18, 42-38, 48-42, 69-60.