2022 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

UST recorded the second biggest winning margin in the history of the PBA D-League when they won by 71 points over the AMA University Titans, 150–79. Sherwin Concepcion finished with a triple-double of 14 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.[23]

The PBA D-League games were aired on One Sports and PBA Rush, while the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup games were aired via livestream on Smart Sports' Facebook page.[lower-alpha 1]

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format and, except for their second-round game against the Ateneo Blue Eagles on November 17, 2022, all of UST's games were televised on One Sports and the UAAP Varsity Channel.

Opening day win

Nic Cabañero scored a career-high of 33 points in their 69–60 win over the Adamson Falcons. The Falcons had threatened within three points in the last 41.6 seconds before Cabañero converted on a step-back jumper to beat the shot clock. The Tigers went successful in defending Adamson's Jerom Lastimosa who scored only ten points in the game as he failed a three-point shot attempt while trailing 60–63.[8]

After a high-scoring first half of play, both UST and Adamson went lethargic, scoring only six and four points, respectively to end the third period. The two squads shared a combined total of 14 turnovers in the ten-minute duration. UST was able to pick up their offense and increase their lead to ten after outscoring the Falcons, 61-51, four minutes into the fourth quarter.[28]

Cabañero, who was celebrating his 19th birthday in a few days tallied a high field goal percentage of 72.2 on a 13 of 18 shooting. His 33-point output was the highest individual score by a Tiger since Kean Baclaan scored 35 points in their preseason game in August.[29][30]

Blowout losses

Coming out into their second game of the season, Cabañero had become a marked man as the De La Salle Green Archers' defense held him down to just 10 points on a 5 of 20 shooting. The Archers came out with a strong start and led by as many as 12 points in the first period to close out with a 30–21 lead. The Tigers began the second quarter with a 12–3 run to come within one at 32–33, but La Salle regained steam and ended the half on a seven-point lead.[32][3]

The Tigers went anemic again in the third period as the Archers limited their scoring to only six points to end the quarter with a 19-point deficit. The game got blown away as La Salle built a huge 24-point lead with still 4:18 left in the game in the final period.[33]

After a close-scoring first half, the Tigers were dealt with a 0–12 scoring run by the Ateneo Blue Eagles to widen the lead from just one point to 13 at 32–45. UST could only manage to score 11 points as the quarter ended with the team trailing by 14 points at 43–57. Their scoring drought continued as they could only come up with 9 points in the payoff period as Ateneo's lead swelled to as high as 29 points.

The Tigers were able to keep up early in the game due to their tough physical defense on the Eagles, but the ploy backfired when Adama Faye was called for his fifth foul with still 3:11 left in the third quarter.[4]

The Tigers closed out the first round of eliminations with a 25-point loss to the UP Fighting Maroons and extended their losing streak to six games. The game started with the Maroons igniting a 14–2 run as UST finished the first period with only 8 points.

UST tried to mount a comeback with a 20–3 run to cut the deficit to 11 from a high of 28 in the last five minutes. Cabañero scored ten straight points in that period to rally his team after being down, 29–57, but UP countered with their own 16–2 run to end the game at 76–51.

The Tigers' poor shot selection resulted to a low 27.9 field goal percentage, in contrast to the Maroons' 41.8 stat line.[34][5]

Despite Adama Faye's double-double game of 23 points and 18 rebounds, the Tigers fared miserably as they surrendered a 30-point loss to the UE Red Warriors. The Warriors who were coming off a three-game losing streak held UST to a nine-point second quarter scoring to end the half with a 22-point 45–23 lead.[6]

The Tigers could not get their shots to drop, making only 18 of their 66 attempts for a 27.3 field goal percentage. UE's tough defense limited Nic Cabañero to a season-low of seven points on a 2 of 15 shooting percentage.[35]

The Warriors blew the game wide open in the second half with UE's CJ Payawal burying five three-point shots and then capped by Harvey Pagsanjan's own three for the game's biggest lead at 34, 43.1 seconds remaining in the game. UST slid down to their seventh straight loss for a 1–7 record.[36]

Third quarter shutdown

The Tigers began the game on a strong 10–3 scoring before Ateneo got going with 19 straight points and kept UST scoreless to end the first period at 10–22. Cabañero pushed his team back to a single digit deficit of eight points from a high of 14 to end the half at 27–35. The sophomore guard had already tallied 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in only two quarters of play.[39]

The Tigers found themselves on the losing end of a 5–19 run by the Blue Eagles at the start of the second half, where they managed to only score 10 points for the third period. By then, Ateneo's lead had swelled to 25 points. UST rallied back in the final quarter to come within eight points, as they held Ateneo to only ten points, but their efforts fell short with the game ending on another loss for the Tigers. Cabañero finished the match with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Adama Faye, meanwhile had another double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.[37][40]

The Tigers extended their losing streak to 11 games after an 18-point loss to the UP Fighting Maroons. The match was close in the first half with UST gaining a 1-point advantage at the end of the first period, and were trailing the Maroons by only three points at the halftime break. The deficit had remained at three points until midway of the third quarter when UP's Cyril Gonzales and Joel Cagulangan ignited a 15–5 run for a 13-point 52–39 lead over the Tigers.

UST went scoreless at the start of the fourth period as the Maroons piled up 11 straight points for a 70–49 count. A 4–2 run by UP in the succeeding play widened the deficit to 23 points with still 6:13 left in the game. The Tigers committed a total of 23 turnovers, giving UP 22 points in transition baskets. Cabañero led UST with 14 points, while Faye had another double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.[41][42]

Endgame collapse

The Tigers lost their first-round game against the NU Bulldogs, 63–69. After trailing NU by 2 points at the end of the first period, UST went on a nine-point second quarter scoring drought. They made a recovery in the second half to come within eight points after Jamba Garing converted on a fast break at the 2:38 mark in the third period. The Bulldogs countered with an 18–8 run that stretched from the end of the quarter until the payoff period for an 18-point 62–44 lead. UST answered back with a 19–5 run and held NU scoreless for the next seven minutes. Nic Cabañero's pull-up triple pulled his team to within three points at 63–67, 10.2 seconds remaining.[43]

The Tigers fouled NU's John Lloyd Clemente in the next play to stop the clock at 7.6 seconds. Clemente converted both free throws for the final count of 69–63. UST's run came by way of fast break points, at the same time preventing the Bulldogs from running which resulted to zero fast break points on their end. They, however shot horribly from the perimeter, missing 14 out of their 16 three point shot attempts, and converting only 24 of 65 field goals. The Tigers also did poorly in free throws, with Cabañero making only 5 out of 11, four of which he missed during the crucial stretch in the fourth period.[44]

The tandem of Cabañero and Faye registered double-doubles, with the Senegalese center making a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Cabañero chipped in 16 points and 12 rebounds in the Tigers' second stright loss.[45]

UST's 68–78 first-round loss to UE was the first time that the Warriors defeated them since October 7, 2017. The Tigers were leading in the first two quarters, until UE's Jojo Antiporda came out firing threes to pull his team ahead. UST was trailing UE by six points when Adama Faye got called for a disqualifying foul on Harvey Pagsanjan in the 2:01 mark of the third period. Replays showed Faye throwing an elbow at Pagsanjan during a rebounding scuffle which resulted to a one-game suspension, effective on their next game against the FEU Tamaraws.[46]

The Tigers' tried to make up for the absence of their center, as Cabañero came up with another double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds. The Warriors were still within sight with 1:28 left in the game, leading only by three points, until UE's Luis Villegas sparked a 14–4 run to put the game away and handed UST a ten-point 68–78 loss.[47][48]

The Growling Tigers blew a 19-point lead against Adamson in their second-round game and lost, 55–56. After a 6–4 lead at the start by the Falcons, UST took control of the rest of the first half by outscoring their opponents, 17–11 in the first quarter, and limiting them to only 8 points in the second quarter for a 12-point 31–19 score. They were leading until midway of the third period as a result of Nic Cabañero's three-straight triples and Jamba Garing’s transition three to bring the score to 47–28. Adamson began a 19–3 uprising that lasted until the 6:15 mark of the final quarter and brought down UST's lead to two at 50–48.

The Tigers had managed to hold on to their 2-point lead until the final 7.1 seconds when Adamson's Cedrick Manzano was fouled by Migs Pangilinan for a three-point play. Garing missed his shot in the next possession as players from both squads scrambled for the rebound. The ball went to Cabañero's hands, but the buzzer had sounded before he was able to release his shot. He topscored for the Tigers with 22 points, but as the Falcons defended him with a double-team, no other player could step up and UST ended up scoring only five points in the fourth quarter.[49][50][51]

The Tigers lost for the 12th straight time as the FEU Tamaraws handed them a 15-point 62–77 defeat in their second-round game. Down by seven points after the first period, UST went toe-to-toe to match their opponents' output of 16 points in the second quarter to close the half at 33–40. They then buckled down to work to begin the second half on a 10–2 run as they took the upperhand with a 43–42 lead off a surprise triple from Echo Laure. The Tigers would then run out of firepower and allow FEU to counter with their own 14–2 run to end the third period with an 11-point deficit. The Tamaraws' Patrick Sleat scored all of his 9 points in that stretch. UST rallied back to come within seven at 53–60, with 6:40 remaining in the game, but FEU's Xyrus Torres and Bryan Sajonia rained down three straight triples to spearhead a 12–0 run. Pat Tchuente's basket extended FEU's lead to 19, with 3:06 left.

Adama Faye posted another double-double of 10 points with a game-high of 18 rebounds, while Ivan Lazarte led in socring with 13 points. The Tigers played without their leading scorer Nic Cabañero, as he sat out due to an ankle sprain that he incurred during their last game against UP.[52][53]

Royce Mantua's breakout game was not enough to stabilize the Tigers's run as they lost to the De La Salle Green Archers, 72–77 in their last game of the season and crashed out on a 13-game losing streak. UST had led throughout the game until the final two minutes as they went scoreless for more than eight minutes.

The Tigers were leading by four points at 59–55 after three quarters, until Mantua's three-point shot at the 8:26 mark pushed the team to their biggest lead at 69–60. It was at this juncture when the coaching staff called Cabañero and Faye to the bench to rest. Their second stringers could not convert, resulting to UST's scoring drought. The Archers, on the other hand, shot nine unanswered baskets, with La Salle's Ice Macalalang giving his team a two-point lead with 1:50 remaining in the game. Two free throw conversions by the Archers' Ben Phillips, off Christian Manaytay's foul extended their run to 11.[54]

By the time Cabañero and Faye checked back in to replace the inexperienced pair of Kenji Duremdes and Echo Laure, their shooting hands were noticeably ice-cold. Faye, in particular, committed a crucial error with 20.9 seconds remaining as he was made to receive a side-court inbound from outside the three-point arc. With UST trailing, 70–73, Faye dribbled on his foot which resulted to a costly turnover. The Archers scored four straight points as team captain Paul Manalang and Jamba Garing, who was playing his last game in a Tigers uniform got their shots blocked while driving to the basket. A last-second triple by Richi Calimag gave UST their lone field goal since Mantua's basket early in the quarter.[55][56]

Mantua topscored with 17 points, on a 5 of 7 three-point shot field goal. Cabañero, who had come off the bench while still nursing a sprain, added 16 points and 4 timely assists to Mantua and Ivan Lazarte that resulted to three-point shot conversions.[57]

Losing streak in double-digits

The Tigers' 57–67 second-round loss to the NU Bulldogs enabled their opponents to enter the Final Four for the first time since the 2015 season. UST, in contrast was eliminated from the playoffs for the second straight year after suffering their tenth straight defeat. This marked the first time for the team to incur a double-digit losing streak since 2017, when they began the season with 13 staight losses that brought their streak to 17, adding to their 4 consecutive defeats from the preceding 2016 season.[58][59]

UST had the game in control in the first half, leading by as high as 11 points on a 42.4 field goal percentage. Nic Cabañero had already scored 13 of his team-high 20 points in only two quarters of play, but the Bulldogs sprang on them at the start of the second half with eight unanswered points. The Bulldogs' John Lloyd Clemente and Kean Baclaan scored back-to-back three-point shots to wrest the Tigers' lead at 38–37. The Tigers went scoreless for five minutes as they were outscored by their opponents in the third quarter, 8–15.

They rallied back in the final period to retake the lead by two at 54–52, but the Bulldogs made a run of their own, outscoring the Tigers, 15–3.[60]