The University of Santo Tomas (UST) forced a decider in the 82nd UAAP men’s basketball semifinals after scoring an 89-69 win over the University of the Philippines (UP) over the weekend at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. UP entered the semifinals with a twice-to-beat advantage.
Soulemane Chabi Yo produced 17 points, 15 boards, four steals, and two assists for UST; while Rhenz Abando added 17 points on top of seven boards and three blocks for the Tigers, Mark Nonoy contributed 16 points, Sherwin Concepcion added 12, and Crispin John Cansino – 11.
“It’s all about execution—on offense and defense,” said UST head coach Aldin Ayo. “We executed our game plan and, lahat ng instructions ko, sinusunod ng mga players (We executed our game plan, the players followed all of my instructions).”
Outside shooting from UST helped them establish a 50-31 lead. After fending off numerous rallies from UP, they continued to maintain a 72-63 nine-point cushion with 3:14 left in the game. Concepcion and Nonoy then buried treys before Chabi Yo extended UST’s lead to 17 points in the final 1:59 to force a winner-take-all game tomorrow./ASC, WDJ