2008 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team

The 2008 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 71st season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 2008-09 began on July 5, 2008 and the host school for the season was the University of the Philippines who were celebrating their centennial year.[1]

2008 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball
Record
Elims rank	#5
Final rank	#5
2008 record	6–8
Head coach	Alfredo M. Jarencio (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Senen Z. Dueñas Rhuel S. Acot Julian Rabbi M. Tomacruz
Captain	Francis Allera (5th season)

UST finished fifth at the end of the double-round eliminations. They won six games against eight losses. Two of their games went into overtime. The first was an 86–80 win over the Adamson Falcons in the first round, and the other was a 69–74 loss to the FEU Tamaraws in the second round.

The Tigers' second round losses to FEU and to the De La Salle Green Archers meant that they needed to win their last two games to at least tie the UE Red Warriors to gain a playoff for the fourth and final seed heading into the final four. They were fifth in the standings at 5 wins and 7 losses, while UE was fourth with a 7–5 win-loss record. They were also hoping for the Red Warriors to lose their remaining two games for a playoff to happen.

The game resulted to a two-point loss for UST. The Tigers had struggled throughout the game with errors and inconsistencies. The opponent had led by 22 points at the end of three quarters. Head coach Pido Jarencio got ejected, but in a display of grit and determination, UST fought back and tried to chip away at UE's lead, resulting a 24–1 run. The Tigers who got eliminated ended up scoring 35 points in the fourth quarter.[2]

Season 70 MVP Jervy Cruz was included in the Mythical team selection during the presentation of awards for Season 71. He had played the entire season while nursing a hamstring injury and even led the MVP race at the end of the double-round eliminations with 75.07 statistical points, as well as a double-double average of 19.8 points scored and 13.7 rebounds per game. He has led the league in rebounds since his first playing year in Season 69. The MVP award eventually went to Ateneo's Rabeh Al-Hussaini who was second in running with 71.14 statistical points.[3]

The Growling Tigers was the season's top rebounding team with a 48.4 per game average.

Roster

UST Growling Tigers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Year High School SG 5 Bautista, Clark Daniel Oliver M. 5'9" (1.75m) 1st Benedictine International School SF 6 Ababou, Dylan Simon R. 6'3" (1.91m) 4th Siena College of Quezon City C 7 Canlas, Mark Angelo C. 6'5" (1.96m) 4th Don Bosco Academy, Pampanga PG 8 Vargas, Emilian C. 5'11" (1.8m) 2nd – PF 9 Gile, Melchor C. 6'4" (1.93m) 4th – PG 10 Fortuna, Jeric Marco G. 5'7" (1.7m) 1st De La Salle Santiago Zobel School PF 11 Afuang, Carmelo S. 6'4" (1.93m) 1st San Beda College–Rizal PF 12 Camus, Christopher I. 6'4" (1.93m) 2nd Sunny Hills High School SF 14 Mirza, Khasim Ali G. 6'4" (1.93m) 4th La Salle College Antipolo SG 16 Allera, Franciz Philip A. (C) 6'3" (1.91m) 5th DOLE Philippines School, South Cotabato C 17 Taylor, Chester Lloyd C. 6'4" (1.93m) 5th Colegio San Agustin PG 18 Cuan, John Paul S. 5'7" (1.7m) 5th University of Santo Tomas SG 19 Fenequito, Carlos Amador A. 6'0" (1.83m) 3rd – C 20 Cruz, Jervy A. 6'4" (1.93m) 5th Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College of Guimba PG 21 Wong, Jackson V. 5'10" (1.78m) 1st Philippine Academy of Sakya-Manila PF 22 Maliksi, Allein Gail Q.  6'4" (1.93m) 3rd Camarin High School	Head coach Alfredo M. Jarencio Assistant coach(es) Rhuel S. Acot Senen Z. Dueñas Julian Rabbi M. Tomacruz Rodil S. Sablan Strength & conditioning coach(es) Emmanuel Calipes Edwin A. Escobar Team manager Clarence D. Aytona Timmy Chong Rudy Yu Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Jervy Cruz	Chester Taylor	Chris Camus
PF	Badong Canlas	Mel Gile	Melo Afuang
SF	Dylan Ababou	Khasim Mirza
SG	Francis Allera	Tata Bautista	Carlos Fenequito
PG	Japs Cuan	Jeric Fortuna	Milan Vargas

Roster changes

The Growling Tigers have lost team captain Anthony Espiritu to graduation, as well as veteran center June Dizon and point guard Rum Perry Scott.

UST has eight new players composed of rookies, transferees and players from the Team B training pool.[4]

Subtractions

Pos.	#	POB	Player	Height	Year	High school	Notes
SG	5		John Hector M. Badua	5' 11"	2nd	University of Santo Tomas	Transferred to José Rizal University
SF	8		Anthony C. Espiritu	6' 4"	5th	University of Santo Tomas	Graduated
PF	10		June Y. Dizon	6' 4"	5th	San Sebastian College-Recoletos	Graduated
SG	11		John Darryl A. Basa	6' 1"	2nd	University of Santo Tomas	Relegated to Team B
PG	12		Jose P. Cortez, Jr.		5th	University of Santo Tomas	Graduated
C	19		Francis A. Soriano	6' 6"	4th
PG	21		Rum Perry I. Scott	5' 9"	5th	St. Joseph School	Graduated

Additions

Pos.	#	POB	Player	Height	Year	High school	Notes
SG	5		Clark Daniel Oliver M. Bautista	5' 9"	1st	Benedictine International School	From Team B
PG	8		Emilian C. Vargas	5' 11"	2nd		Transferred from Emilio Aguinaldo College
PG	10		Jeric Marco G. Fortuna	5' 7"	1st	De La Salle Santiago Zobel School	Rookie
PF	11		Carmelo S. Afuang	6' 4"	1st	San Beda College–Rizal	From Team B
PF	12		Christopher I. Camus	6' 4"	2nd	Sunny Hills High School	Transferred from San Beda College
SG	19		Carlos Amador A. Fenequito	6' 0"	3rd		Transferred from José Rizal University
PG	21		Jackson V. Wong	5' 10"	1st	Philippine Academy of Sakya-Manila	Rookie
PF	22		Allein Gail Q. Maliksi	6' 4"	3rd	Camarin High School	Transferred from University of Manila

Injuries

The Growling Tigers did not join any major preseason tournaments on two reasons: their veteran players had been busy playing for their commercial teams in the PBL in the summer; and eight of their players suffered various injures before and during the UAAP tournament.[5]

• Jervy Cruz played in all 14 UAAP games while nursing a pulled hamstring which he incurred while playing for Hapee Fresh Fighters in an out-of-town PBL game in May.[6]
• Dylan Ababou fractured his right hand while also playing in the PBL under Harbour Centre Batang Pier. He was healed in time for the opening of the season and played in all of UST's games.
• Khasim Mirza suffered a broken foot and was also hospitalized before the start of the season due to an improper diet. He missed three games in the first round of eliminations.
• Japs Cuan, in only the third game of the Tigers suffered a torn meniscus on his knee which required operation. He was able to return in the second round while playing limited minutes.[7]
• Allein Maliksi had an ACL injury and was only able to play in one game against the NU Bulldogs in the first round of eliminations.
• Chester Taylor and Francis Allera had sprained knees during their summer training, while rookie Jeric Fortuna suffered from flu during the season.
• Other players who missed games were Mel Gile, Chris Camus, Milan Vargas and Khasim Mirza. They were all given suspensions by the coaching staff during their first-round game against the Adamson Falcons.

UAAP Season 71 games results

Further information: UAAP Season 71 basketball tournaments

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on Studio 23 & Balls.

Date	Time	Opponent	Venue	Result	Record
First round of eliminations
Jul 5	4:00 p.m.	UE Red Warriors	Araneta Coliseum • Quezon City	L 73–78	0–1
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 26; Rebounds: Cruz – 22; Assists: Cuan – 6
Jul 12	2:00 p.m.	UP Fighting Maroons	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	W 94–75	1–1
Game Highs: Points: Ababou – 20; Rebounds: Cuan – 9; Assists: Cuan – 7
Jul 17	4:00 p.m.	De La Salle Green Archers	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	L 84–85	1–2
Game Highs: Points: Ababou – 23; Rebounds: Cruz – 11; Assists: Cuan – 6
Jul 20	4:00 p.m.	FEU Tamaraws	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	L 65–70	1–3
Game Highs: Points: Allera – 20; Rebounds: Allera – 8; Assists: Fortuna – 4
Jul 27	4:00 p.m.	Adamson Falcons	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	W 86–80^OT	2–3
Game Highs: Points: Ababou – 26; Rebounds: Ababou – 13; Assists: Bautista – 3
Jul 31	2:00 p.m.	NU Bulldogs	Araneta Coliseum • Quezon City	W 88–77	3–3
Game Highs: Points: Bautista – 18; Rebounds: Cruz – 10; Assists: Canlas – 4
Aug 3	4:00 p.m.	Ateneo Blue Eagles	Araneta Coliseum • Quezon City	L 57–64	3–4
Game Highs: Points: Ababou – 15; Rebounds: Cruz – 15; Assists: Bautista – 3
Fifth place after 1st round (3 wins–4 losses)
Second round of eliminations
Aug 9	2:00 p.m.	Adamson Falcons	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	W 97–83	4–4
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 29; Rebounds: Cruz – 15; Assists: Fortuna – 5
Aug 14	4:00 p.m.	Ateneo Blue Eagles	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	L 76–85	4–5
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 23; Rebounds: Cruz – 18; Assists: Fortuna – 4
Aug 17	4:00 p.m.	FEU Tamaraws	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	L 69–74^OT	4–6
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 30; Rebounds: Cruz – 13; Assists: Fortuna – 4
Aug 23	2:00 p.m.	NU Bulldogs	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	W 68–58	5–6
Game Highs: Points: Allera – 14; Rebounds: Cruz – 10; Assists: Cuan – 4
Aug 28	4:00 p.m.	De La Salle Green Archers	Araneta Coliseum • Quezon City	L 79–81	5–7
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 28; Rebounds: Cruz – 20; Assists: 3 players – 3
Aug 31	4:00 p.m.	UE Red Warriors	PhilSports Arena • Pasig	L 87–89	5–8
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 21; Rebounds: Cruz – 23; Assists: Cuan – 4
Sep 6	2:00 p.m.	UP Fighting Maroons	Araneta Coliseum • Quezon City	W 71–63	6–8
Game Highs: Points: Cruz – 21; Rebounds: Cruz – 18; Assists: Cuan, Allera – 3
Fifth place at 6 wins–8 losses (3 wins–4 losses in the 2nd round)

Times listed above are in UTC+08:00

Source: inboundPASS

Individual statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOT	PPG
Jervy Cruz	14		32.5	103	188	54.8%	0	0	0.0%	71	95	74.7%	13.7	0.9	0.4	0.9	2.4	19.8
Dylan Ababou	14		28.2	74	163	45.4%	14	53	26.4%	58	80	72.5%	6.6	1.1	0.6	0.3	3.1	15.3
Francis Allera	14		23.4	52	139	37.4%	22	78	28.2%	13	17	76.5%	5.6	1.3	0.3	0.5	1.9	9.9
Tata Bautista	14		15.6	31	98	31.6%	25	82	30.5%	10	14	71.4%	1.4	1.1	0.1	0.0	1.5	6.9
Khasim Mirza	11		16.5	23	74	31.1%	12	41	29.3%	13	19	68.4%	4.0	0.6	0.2	0.1	1.6	6.5
Badong Canlas	14		21.4	32	93	34.4%	0	1	0.0%	23	41	56.1%	4.8	1.3	0.2	0.3	1.7	6.2
Japs Cuan	10		20.3	14	31	45.2%	1	6	16.7%	9	20	45.0%	3.8	4.0	0.6	0.0	1.7	3.8
Jeric Fortuna	14		15.9	15	56	26.8%	7	23	30.4%	15	24	62.5%	1.7	1.7	0.7	0.0	1.9	3.7
Allein Maliksi	1		5.0	1	3	33.3%	1	1	100.0%	0	0	0.0%	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	3.0
Chris Camus	12		8.1	14	40	35.0%	1	11	9.1%	3	4	75.0%	1.9	0.3	1.0	0.3	0.3	2.7
Chester Taylor	14		11.2	14	42	33.3%	0	2	0.0%	2	2	100.0%	2.2	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.3	2.7
Milan Vargas	7		6.1	6	14	42.9%	0	1	0.0%	1	5	20.0%	0.9	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.6	2.0
Mel Gile	11		10.2	6	18	33.3%	1	5	20.0%	5	10	50.0%	3.3	0.9	0.1	0.4	0.8	1.6
Carlos Fenequito	14		8.0	6	19	31.6%	2	7	28.6%	5	6	83.3%	1.6	0.6	0.1	0.1	0.5	1.4
Melo Afuang	5		1.8	0	3	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	2	4	50.0%	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4
Jackson Wong	3		1.3	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	1	2	50.0%	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3
Total	14		40.7	391	982	39.8%	81	296	27.4%	231	343	67.3%	48.4	12.9	4.0	2.8	17.2	78.1
Opponents	14		40.7	369	943	39.1%	80	294	27.2%	252	392	64.3%	39.0	14.9	4.8	4.3	14.5	75.9

Source: inboundPASS

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FGM	Field-goal made	FGA	Field-goal attempts	FG%	Field-goal percentage
3PM	3-point field-goal made	3PA	3-point field-goal attempts	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage
FTM	Free-throw made	FTA	Free-throw attempts	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	TOT	Turnovers per game	PPG	Points per game

Postseason tournaments

2008 Philippine Collegiate Championship

• Tournament record: 4W–1L

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Venue	Top scorer
Wildcard qualifying round
Oct 15	12:00 pm	St. Clare College of Caloocan Saints	W 80–71	Makati Coliseum	Allera - 22 pts
Oct 16	1:30 pm	Saint Francis of Assisi College Doves	W 64–51	Makati Coliseum	Ababou - 30 pts
Oct 17	1:30 pm	Las Piñas College Blue Lions	W 69–66	Makati Coliseum	Ababou - 24 pts
Zonal championships
Nov 4		Saint Louis University Navigators	W 102–52	Makati Coliseum	4 players - 11 pts
Nov 6		Arellano University Chiefs	L 59–69	Makati Coliseum	Ababou - 22 pts
Eliminated from Round of 16

Times listed above are in UTC+08:00

Awards

Player	Award
Jervy Cruz	Mythical team
Tata Bautista	Tokyo Tokyo All-rookie team

Players drafted into the PBA

Year	Round	Pick	Overall	Player	PBA team
2009	1	4	4	Jervy Cruz	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
2009	2	4	13	Francis Allera	Burger King Whoppers

References

1. Villar, Joey S. "UAAP 71st season under way". ABS-CBN Sports. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
2. Olivares, Rick. "A Tiger season's end". Bleachers Brew. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
3. Payo, Jasmine W. "2-way fight for MVP title shaping up". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
4. Brobo, H. J. D. "Beefing up Lair '71". The Varsitarian. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
5. Divinagracia, Anthony Andrew G. "A lair in stitches". The Varsitarian. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
6. Payo, Jasmine W. "Jervy doubtful; Loyzaga gives Castro advice". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
7. Bustamante, Paolo M. "The Graduates: UST point guard Japs Cuan continues to assist". Slam Philippines. Retrieved September 3, 2016.