By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
WITH the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers making it to the UAAP Finals in just his second year at the coaching helm, Aldin Ayo said it goes to show that the program they are trying to build is working but nonetheless highlighted that more could still be done.
Saw their spirited run in Season 82 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines come to an end on Wednesday with an 86-79 loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles in Game Two of their best-of-three finals, Mr. Ayo said they take pride in how far they were able to go even as he said that it also showed they still have a lot to learn and improve on.
“Well, yes I can say yes what he have achieve this season is an improvement. We always want to improve. Last year, we ended up sixth. This year, we made it to the Finals. [But] Our mindset is, even if we made it here, we are still lacking on certain aspects of our game and we have to work on them. We’ll make sure that the experience we got this season we will learn from them,” said Mr. Ayo following Game Two.
And such mindset allowed the España-based Tigers to be one of the success stories in the UAAP this season outside of Ateneo, which was simply unstoppable in making history with an undefeated season and winning a second three-peat in school history.
UST competed each time on its way to barging into the step-ladder semifinals.
Despite being the lowest seed, it conquered the Far Eastern University Tamaraws in the first step before overhauling the twice-to-beat advantage of the second seeds University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons to set up a finals matchup with Ateneo.
In the finals, while they had their struggles, the Tigers showed no let-up in their fight.
In Game Two, despite being limited by the Ateneo defense in the opening half, the Tigers stayed resilient and go-getting, coming dangerously close from snatching the win late in the game which would have prevented a perfect season for the Eagles.
But the trademark steadiness of Ateneo in the end made it hard for UST to complete its pulling-the-rug-from-under quest.
“We tried our best but we fell short. Hats off to Ateneo. But like what I have said this is a learning experience for us, especially our young players. We will continue to work on our game and our system in the offseason,” said Mr. Ayo, a champion UAAP coach with the De La Salle Green Archers in Season 79.
UST is set to lose Renzo Subido, Zach Huang and Enrique Caunan to graduation, and Mr. Ayo said they will be a big loss, especially Subido who was a steadying factor and clutch player for the Tigers this season.
The Tigers coach, however, expressed confidence they would able to manage moving forward with help from holdovers Soulemane Chabi Yo, the league most valuable player; rookie of the year Mark Nonoy, talented forwards Rhenz Abando and Sherwin Concepcion and young veteran CJ Casino.
They are also set to welcome new recruits, whom Mr. Ayo described as not high-profile players but fit their system and would be of help to the team.
Mr. Ayo also shared that they are going to compete in various tournaments in the offseason all geared towards their goal of coming back stronger and better in UAAP Season 83.
