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| UAAP Season 76 Finals: UST wins game 1 vs. DLSU Image credit: UAAP Sports TV |
Kevin Ferrer led all scorers with 20 points. Karim Abdul added 19 points and 12 rebounds. Jeric Teng had 17 points and seven rebounds for UST.
UST carried the momentum of their inspiring win against National University (NU) during the Final Four. The Tigers marched into the championship against the Archers after winning twice against NU.
The Growling Tigers lost a double-digit lead early in the game but was able to recover in time and come to within a win away from their first UAAP championship since 2006.
It was a well-attended game as 20,000 fans trooped to the SMART Araneta Coliseum to witness the UAAP Finals.
Everyone was in shocked after UST beat DLSU. UST head coach Pido Jarencio said, "Ako rin, na-shock ako! Panalo pala kami!"
At the start of the fourth quarter, La Salle was still leading 54-50.
Jeric Teng, however, took charged in the final quarter by getting five straight points to regain the lead for UST, 55-54.
With a little over two minutes to go, Karim Abdul coolly drained two charities to make it 68-63 in favor of UST, only to see La Salle's Jason Perkins drain a triple that made it a one-possession game, 66-68, with just 1:58 left.
After a split at the line by Jeron Teng made it a one-point game, UST's Kevin Ferrer drilled a booming triple from the top of the key that made it a four-point game, 73-69, with just 41 seconds left.
Jeron however, completed a three-point play immediately after to make it a one-point game anew, 72-73, with still 29.1 seconds left in the game.
But in the next play, Aljon Mariano lost the ball after an inbound pass from Ferrer. That gave La Salle a chance to win the game.
But Almond Vosotros missed an open three pointer and Abdul blocked LA Revilla's putback as time expires.
Game 2 of the UAAP Season 76 Finals will be on Saturday, October 5. The championship game will be played at the Araneta Coliseum and will be live on ABS-CBN's Channel 2.
