Games Saturday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

1:30 p.m. — UE vs NU

4:30 p.m. — UST vs Ateneo

 It took University of Santo Tomas (UST) almost a month to stop a four-game bleeding in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 men’s basketball tournament.

To end that long wait, the Tigers needed a strong opening quarter to dictate the tempo of the game before clinging on the back of Nic Cabañero to down listless University of the East (UE), 109-97, and fuel their Final Four bid Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Meanwhile, National University inched closer to a twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four following a 70-64 win over Far Eastern University in the second game.

The Bulldogs improved to a league-leading 10-2 win-loss card while sending the Tamaraws to their seventh loss in 11 matches.

Cabañero took matters into his own hands when the Red Warriors made a desperate run to turn a 27-point third-quarter deficit into a single digit with just over two minutes left, stringing five straight points to bring UST back at a safe distance on its way to a 6-5 win-loss record at solo fourth.             

The veteran scorer finished with 19 points on 7-of-11 field goal shooting to lead the Tigers to their first taste of victory since bringing down Far Eastern University, 92-80, back in 15 October.  

“I guess the difference now is their willingness (to win) in the endgame, especially with Nic taking over,” UST deputy Japs Cuan said.

Cuan and the rest of head coach Pido Jarencio’s coaching staff lauded the positive response of the squad to the challenge of ending its alarming funk.

UST had some brushes of halting its skid in a one-point overtime loss to Adamson University and a gut-wrenching 88-89 loss to defending champion University of the Philippines (UP) last week. 

“And, of course, we’ve learned our lesson in the squad’s positive response damson game where we relaxed in the last few seconds and against UP, that you know, a winnable game. It was painful for us, but at the end of the game, we just moved,” added Cuan, a respected figure in UST community as he helped the Tigers win their last championship back in 2006.

“As a collective group, we just bounced back and trusted each other.” Collins Akowe had a double-double of 16 markers and 16 rebounds, Gelo Crisostomo added 14 points while Forthsky Padrigao and Amiel Acido scored 11 and 10, respectively, for UST.

UE behind rookie Dylan Despi uncorked a 10-0 run to bring down its deficit to a single digit, 102-93, with 2:16 left.

Cabañero crashed the defense for a layup before scoring another off a strong drive. He made a split from the line to give the Tigers a comfortable 107-95 cushion with 1:05 remaining to secure the victory.

UST built its biggest lead at 82-55 after an Echo Laure basket with three minutes left in the third period.

The Tigers opened a 33-16 gap to end the first 10 minutes of action and stayed in front from there.

Already out of the semifinals contention, the Red Warriors remained winless after 12 games.

Wello Lingolingo posted 18 points while Despi had 17 markers, seven assists and five rebounds for UE.

Precious Momowei had 17 points and 12 boards in a losing effort for the Red Warriors, who are now on an 18-game slump dating back to the second round of last season.