SHERWIN Concepcion delivered the dagger threes in the clutch to carry University of Santo Tomas to its first win in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament with a 74-62 escape from University of the East Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
UST vs UE recap
The third-year forward nailed back-to-back threes to put the exclamation point in the Growling Tigers' 19-2 barrage to crawl back from a 60-55 deficit in the last 6:47.
Concepcion went berserk with his 6-of-9 shooting from distance to spearhead UST with a career-best 25 points, five rebounds, and three assists and steer it to its first win in three games.
Nic Cabanero also stepped up with 12 points and seven rebounds, Christian Manaytay got 12 points and four boards, and Bryan Santos got a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds in the breakthrough win for the Espana side.
"I give credit to my players, di sila bumitaw," said coach Jinino Manansala. "Ang hirap ng laban pero down the stretch, nakita natin yung lakas namin kaya nakuha namin ang panalo."
It was a pure battle of attrition, but UE was the first to flinch even after the hot streak from Harvey Pagsanjan early in the payoff period as the Red Warriors struggled to buy a basket down the stretch and succumbed to their third straight loss.
Orin Catacutan led with 17 points and five rebounds but was largely a non-factor for UE in the final canto.
Pagsanjan also had 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field, as Clint Escamis got nine points, five boards, and five assists,
The Scores:
UST 74 -- Concepcion 25, Cabanero 12, Manaytay 12, Santos 10, Fontanilla 8, Yongco 3, Ando 2, M. Pangilinan 2, Manalang 0, Garing 0, Mantua 0, Samudio 0, Gomez de Liano 0, Canoy 0.
UE 62 -- Catacutan 17, Pagsanjan 10, Escamis 9, Antiporda 7, Lorenzana 5, N. Paranada 4, Beltran 4, Guevarra 4, Sawat 2, K. Paranada 0, Tulabut 0, Je. Cruz 0, Villanueva 0.
Quarters: 25-24, 36-39, 50-53, 74-62.
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