UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas defeated Arellano, 83-73, on Monday at The Arena in San Juan to advance to the semifinals of the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup for the first time.
The Tigers, which entered the quarterfinals as the third seed from Group B, used a 9-0 run in the third period to break a 49-49 deadlock in their quarterfinal match-up to oust the Chiefs, the No. 2 seeds from Group A.
UST, which will play in the semifinals for the first time since the league was founded in 2006, will face University of the East, which beat Adamson, 66-58.
“Ayaw lang magpatalo ng mga bata,” said UST coach Pido Jarencio. “More on pride na lang. At the same time, ’yung experience yung pagkabeterano, lumabas.”
Jeric Teng had 23 points, while Karim Abdul had 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers. Kevin Ferrer finished with 14 points.
Ed Daquioag had 11 points and 10 assists in the point guard role, with Tata Bautista out with an injury.
Santo Tomas had a blistering run to get ahead, 58-49, after a tight contest. The Tigers then began the fourth with a 6-0 run for a 65-53 advantage.
Arellano missed the services of James Forrester, who sustained an MCL injury in his left knee.
John Pinto had 13 points but was on the bench for the whole fourth quarter due to cramps. His absence proved to be the big difference as the Chiefs could not come up with a comeback run in the final period.
The scores:
UST (83) – Teng 23, Abdul 18, Ferrer 14, Daquioag 11, Pe 6, Mariano 5, Lo 3, So 2, Hainga 1, Marata 0, Tan 0l Lao 0, Macasaet 0.
Arellano (73) – Pinto 13, Bangga 10, Hernandez 8, Nicholls 8, Agovida 8, Jalalon 7, Salcedo 5, Enriquez 4, Margallo 3, Gumaru 3, Caperal 2, Cadavis 2.
Quarterscores: 26-17; 40-37; 62-53; 83-73.
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