UST Growling Tigers Escapes NU Bulldogs

The University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers relied on their outside shooting to squeeze out a thrilling 59-58 win against vastly improved National University (NU) Bulldogs on Thursday in the UAAP Season 73 at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Growling Tigers hit 5 triples in the payoff period to overcome a sluggish start and register their 3rd win in 5 games.

Trailing by two, 49-47, midway in the 4th period, an unlikely hero emerged from UST.

Carmelo Afuang scored 9 of the next 12 points of the Tigers to grab the momentum going into the final 2 minutes of the see-saw battle.

The 6-foot-3 Afuang, one of UST’s “undersized” big men, drilled in a surprise three-pointer to cap off his heroics, padding its lead to 6 points, 59-53, with 2:19 left.

NU still had a chance to save the game, which it controlled for the most part, but could not execute properly against UST’s tenacious defense.

A broken play led to Emmanuel Mbe’s basket that closed the gap, 59-58, with 4.8 seconds remaining. But the Tigers escaped with the win as the Bulldogs were 3 fouls short from getting to the penalty situation.