Pasaol’s hot shooting lifts UE to first win, keep UST winless
By Maxine Louise Lagman
7 October 2017
University of the East finally grabbed its first win after handing University of Santo Tomas a winless first round in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament after a 96-91 victory on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With the win, the Red Warriors improved to a 1-6 card at the end of the first round, while the Growling Tigers have ended the first round winless with a 0-7 card.
“We played hard and they knew that it was not going to be easy. We did not fold and we were able to handle the comeback of UST and I am proud of them with the way we played,” said Coach Derrick Pumaren.
After tallying 49 points last Wednesday against La Salle, Alvin Pasaol was on fire once again after finishing with a game-high 32 points on top of 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Pasaol’s putback in the final 22.7 ticks in the game, after Mark Olayon’s block on Marvin Lee, gave UE the 94-91 advantage. Meanwhile, Philip Manalang capped off the match with two freebies after Lee mistakenly turned the ball over.
“During our first five games, we did not play as a team, but the effort we had against La Salle was really awesome and it carried over today,” added Pumaren.
Manalang added 20 points and seven assists, while Olayon finished with 15 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Jason Varilla chipped in another 15 points off the bench in the win.
Meanwhile, UST committed 25 turnovers that led to 33 UE points and shot a horrid 17-for-38 from the free throw line.
Lee led UST with 20 points, while Steve Akomo finished with a double-double 19 points and 18 rebounds.
