THE UST Growling Tigers flexed their dominance by pounding Fil-Am Nation Select, 98-66, to enter the Pinoyliga Global Invitationals Cup finals on Friday, March 28, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Through four contests, the Tigers finished atop the tournament with a spotless 4-0 slate.
UST’s foreign student-athlete Peter Osang earned Player of the Game honors after dominating the paint with 18 points, 11 rebounds and a block.
“I do my best, I do what I have to do to make the team win,” Osang told The Flame.
“We just play together, and we put the effort as a team as usual,” he added.
To kickstart the match, The Tigers held a slim six-point lead capped off by a three-pointer from Kyle Paranada, 18-12.
The Tigers began to pump things up in the second salvo as big man Gelo Crisostomo converted back-to-back triples. Nic Cabañero and Jiro Sevilla also hit consecutive buckets to balloon the lead to 20 points at the end of the first half, 56-36.
Entering the third period, Fil-Am Nation Select’s Jace Aquiningoc drilled a three-pointer to build momentum, 56-39. However, three straight buckets from Osang gave UST a comfortable 78-51 cushion to close our the quarter.
Aquiningoc looked to apply pressure once more, scoring five straight points to begin the fourth frame. It was to no avail as buckets from UST big men Echo Laure and Zain Mahmood capped off a dominant performance to claim their fourth win in a row.
The Tigers’ finals matchup is still undetermined with one more day to end the eliminations. F – with reports from Francia Migyel Violeta
