Defanged Tigers stay on the prowl

A promising start has turned sour for University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Three straight losses stalled the Growling Tigers’ progress in the tight Final Four race in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.

Although the Tigers kept their hold of the fourth spot with a 4-6 win-loss record, their string of misfortunes left them within reach of teams at the bottom half of the standings.

But the Tigers aren’t giving in to frustration, at least for now.

“For us, none. We want to treat this (skid) as a learning experience,” UST guard Forthsky Padrigao said.

The Tigers absorbed their latest defeat in front of their home crowd on their own turf at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion, bowing to Ateneo de Manila University, 64-67, last Saturday.

Before that, UST got blown away by University of the Philippines, 83-73, to start the second round before a heartbreaking, 87-94, overtime loss to defending champion and Final Four-bound De La Salle University.

“Our team has been showing effort and are looking to learn each game. We talk about our situation. We’ve already lost so we just move on to our next game,” Padrigao said.

The last two defeats were pretty harsh for the transferee from Ateneo.

Padrigao missed a free throw that could’ve won the game for the Tigers in regulation against the Green Archers. He again missed his mark in a potential game-winning three-pointer in overtime.

Against the Blue Eagles, the Season 85 Mythical Team member committed a costly errant inbound pass intended for Nic Cabañero that Sean Quitevis stole and converted into a fastbreak layup that allowed Ateneo more breathing room in the dying seconds.

“We learn through those experiences. (But) it’s two straight games, and we still failed on that end of the floor,” he said following the tough loss in a game UST played sans suspended center Mo Tounkara.

“We’re a rebuilding team but it’s not an excuse. We need to do better in our next four games. Hopefully, in the coming endgame situations, we’ll learn from our past two games.”

The Tigers try to stop the bleeding on Sunday against Far Eastern University (3-6) at the Mall of Asia Arena.