Growling Tigers on the prowl

Karim Abdul of UST is a dominant force in the paint.
(Photo by Roy Afable)

In 2006, the University of Santo Tomas captured their UAAP title under then first time coach Pido Jarencio. His team defeated another rookie coach at the time in the form of Norman Black with the Blue Eagles. It was a different story when the return of DLSU in UAAP basketball coming off a year of hiatus the following year -- their hopes of a two peat began to fade. The Green Archers were shooting arrows once more and rekindled their rivalry with the Blue Eagles. UST remained a Final Four team but then it has been a tough mountain to climb for the Tigers ever since.

This season 74 of the UAAP, coach Pido Jarencio looking to make another push for that coveted hoops title and bring it back home to UST. Now, that he's got Karim Abdul to man the post, things are definitely looking up for the Growling Tigers. In their opening game against the National University Bulldogs, it was a matter of how they're gonna contain rookie swingman Bobby Ray Parks Jr. -- son of the former PBA import Bobby Parks Sr. It was clearly a team effort for UST and captured their first win of the season.

Then in their next game, they were up for a battle with a young UE Red Warriors team. Coach Pido was going up against one Jerry Codinera --- another PBA rival in their hay-day and a rookie coach for the rebuilding Red Warriors. UE hasn't won a game since the start of the season.

As expected, Red Warriors much of a threat for the Growling Tigers. They completely dominated UE from start to finish. Rookie Kevin Ferrer made some noise and exploded with 19 points, 5 boards and a steal for UST. It was pretty much another day in class for Jeric Fortuna as he dropped 8 dimes along with his 12 points, 3 steals and a couple of rebounds. Big man Karim Abdul was a force in the paint with one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots to boot.

The Tigers are currently have a 2-0 record joining the defending champs and still undefeated Ateneo Blue Eagles in the standings.

Another disappointing loss for coach Jerry Codinera and his boys. Red Warriors Paul Zamar did his best to carry his team in a losing effort with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. They haven't exactly learned anything from their loss to UP a few days ago. It's gonna take a while for a young team like the Red Warriors to get back to their winning form. Not an easy task for coach Jerry but he knows he can turn his team around.

With the UST Growling Tigers off to a good start, it's no surprise that they are one of the heavy favorites to win the title this season.

Who knows? We just might see a rematch of the 2006 UAAP Finals between UST and Ateneo.

Main Game Results:

UST -- 70

Ferrer 19, Teng 13, Fortuna 12, Abdul 12, Vigil 7, Camus 3, Afuang 3, Lo 2, Pe 1, Tan 0, Sheriff 0

UE -- 63

Zamar 18, Sumang 14, Sumido 9, Noble 9, Javier 6, Santos 5, Duran 2, Zosa 0, Montelibano 0, Chavez 0, Enguio 0, Tagarda 0, Flores 0

Quarter Scores: 11-8, 24-14, 25-17, 10-24

First Game Results:

NU -- 75

Parks 30, Mbe 10, Javillonar 9, Villamor 8, Khobuntin 7, Terson 5, Eman 2, Alolino 2, Magat 2, Neypes 0, Libing-Isa 0, Celiz 0, Ignacio 0, Singh 0

UP -- 66

Manuel 21, Montecastro 12, Gamboa 9, Mbah 7, Gomez 6, Silungan 5, Romero 4, Wong 2, Wierzba 0, Maniego 0, Juruena 0, Ginhgerich 0

Quarter Scores: 24-15, 16-28, 19-10, 16-13