UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas lost a golden opportunity to snatch the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball crown last Saturday and it has only itself to blame.
The Growling Tigers embraced coach Pido Jarencio’s battlecry of “puso” all right. But at crunch time, they experienced a mental meltdown and failed to utilize their “utak.”
Here was graduating Jeric Teng, UST’s meal ticket who was in the final game of his distinguished five-year UAAP tenure and having the hot hands throughout the three-game finals.
Unbelievably, and unfortunately, Teng’s teammates did not trust Teng enough to give him the rock in their potential game-winning – and title-clinching offensive play – neither at regulation time nor in overtime.
How could have they done that to their team skipper? Here was Jeric, who was laboring throughout his farewell campaign due to a pair of major injuries (God bless National University’s Joeffrey Javillonar!), missing seven games till midway through the double-round elimination phase but courageously willed his team back into playoff contention with 17 points and nine rebounds against Ateneo in the elims’ final game to gain the Final Final ticket and oust the five-time defending league titlist Blue Eagles and put together a 19-point, five-rebounds, 4-assist performance in the second and deciding semifinals triumph over top seed National University that rewarded UST with the first finals appearance by a fourth-seeded school in UAAP Final Four history.
Injured veteran Aljon Mariano played so badly for UST in the three-game titular series, going just 2-9-3 in point production for a frigid 4.7-point average.
Sure, he was also shadowing DLSU’s double-double (points/rebounds) threat Jason Perkins but he also significantly struggled with his shooting with an inept .179 (5-for-28) overall field-goal clip (1-for-8, 4-for-12 and 0-for-8).
Jarencio took a gamble by replacing Mariano with burly Paulo Pe in the starting lineup in the series-deciding Game Three but it went for naught. Pe fouled out early and Mariano remained mired in a slump.
Mariano, who according to a UST source, rode to the UST campus with a brand-new Honda CRV five days before Game Three, could not even throw the rock into the ocean as he shot an oh-so-pitiful 0-for-8 from the field.
That included the top-of-the-key jumper that he misfired horribly during the final offensive play of regulation (6.1 seconds) after demanding that his teammates clear out for his botched attempt at heroism.
All the while, Teng was free at the left corner as his DLSU defender and younger brother Jeron only had one hand up (while halfway looking to double-team an inside foe).
Coach Jarencio simply scratched his head following the mental mistake by Mariano, whose turnover in Game One nearly cost UST the game (La Salle missed a pair of shots in the final 30 seconds, including one by LA Revilla that was blocked by Karim Abdul at the buzzer, to preserve the Tigers’ 73-72 win).
In overtime, UST was still ahead by one point, 69-68, with 30 ticks left, when Mariano threw a wild pass to Kevin Ferrer following Jeron Teng’s free-throw miss, giving ball possession back to La Salle. The Green Archers capitalized on their good fortune as Almond Vosotros hesitated for a three with a fake and then moved closer for a two-pointer that returned the upperhand for his team, 70-69, with 19.7 seconds left.
Vosotros’s twinner turned out to be the game winner as Abdul subsequently missed three straight fielders, including one with 2.3 seconds remaining.
According to UST assistant coach Estong Ballesteros, Jarencio designed the final play that was not intended for Jeric (a judgment error to this Hoopster).
Instead it was Jeric who inbounded the ball beneath La Salle’s basket (remember La Salle was the defender). Teng passed the ball to Abdul with the expectation that Abdul would give it back for a screen that would open up a triple by Jeric in the right corner.
If Jarencio had, indeed, diagrammed a strategy that would have Jeric running into the other (left) corner (so little time to run to the other side after an inbound from the right with 2.3 ticks left), another shooter (perhaps Clark Bautista) should have already positioned in the right corner for a potential jumper off an Abdul screen.
Instead, insanity struck Abdul as he himself hoisted a three-pointer that was way off the mark. Abdul had some luck making perimeter jumpers off DLSU’s Arnold Van Opstal during the game but for a 6-foot-8 fella who was attempting just his ninth triple during the season but none in the first two games of the finals (he had two in Game Three), that was glaringly a poor shot selection. It certainly was not – and will never be – a good percentage shot.
And all the while on the floor there was one guy who brought life to UST in the past five years but he was shamelessly ignored in his final crack at glory and a championship ring. Not once but twice (in the final play of regulation and overtime).
Jeric had the hot hands in Game Three. He had 24 points and shot pretty well, going 10-for-21 from the field, including a jumper that handed UST its final lead, 69-67, with 34 seconds remaining in overtime.
Moreover, Jeric was 4-for-7 from triple land and owned an overall three-game finals series clip of .450 (9-for-20) from that area along with his 23.3-point average. (Jeron was right. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother and Jeric, too, deserved the Finals MVP award if not for UST’s endgame mental miscues.)
But UST chose to ignore Teng at crunch time and one historic moment was recklessly thrown away. In the end, it’s the lack of mental fortitude that did the lion-hearted Growling Tigers in.
Jeric was not on their mind and they all paid dearly for it. For the Growling Tigers faithful, Go USTe! Better luck next time without graduating Jeric Teng and Clark Bautista and with, or without, Jarencio on the bench.
For Jeric, it’s on to greater things – like a stint with the Philippine national team or in the professional Philippine Basketball Association, where his dad, the Robocop Alvin Teng, once saw action.