Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — What has been the key to University of Santo Tomas’ rise this season? Truth be told, it all boils down to the simplest of explanations: the Growling Tigers are as cohesive as they’ve ever been.
“Right now, we’re not a team, but we’re a family,” said coach Bong dela Cruz. “That’s our mentality ever since we had our team building. Yun ang ginagawa namin at pinapairal ngayon.”
So it should be no surprise that UST is seeing better days this time out compared to last year’s forgettable run.
And at the forefront of this turnaround is the newest King Tiger: Kevin Ferrer, who has been the driving force in leading UST back to the top of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) standings this season.
“With Kevin, maganda yung pinapakita niyang example sa mga teammates niya,” Dela Cruz said.
Ferrer, who bagged the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week, has taken the leadership role by heart this year. And so far, everything is going his way.
After the Tigers fell behind by 14 early against La Salle last Wednesday (September 30), the 22-year-old huddled his teammates and shook off their slow start. The Tigers choked the Green Archers with their killer defense and bombarded them with booming long bombs.
That searing run saw huge contributions from Ferrer’s “brothers” like Kyle Suarez, Louie Vigil, Ed Daquioag, and Karim Abdul.
Saddled by foul trouble all game long, Ferrer eventually finished the job in the fourth, firing 10 straight points to start the frame, helping UST maul La Salle, 77-61, on Wednesday.
He wound up with 17 points, highlighted by a 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc, in just 16 minutes of action.
That was enough for Ferrer to earn his second consecutive weekly citation given by sports scribes from national dailies and online portals, besting La Salle’s Jeron Teng and Adamson’s Jerome Garcia.
Beast against Lions
There is something about playing San Beda that always draw the best from Arellano University’s Jio Jalalon.
Jalalon delivered one of his best performances of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to power the Chiefs to a 91-72 victory Friday and a rare elimination round sweep of the Lions at The Arena in San Juan.
Jalalon dropped game-highs 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lift Arellano to the victory that fanned its Final Four bid.
It also clinched Jalalon the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week award, his second after winning the same honor following a 22-point, eight-assists and six-rebound effort in an 88-84 win also over San Beda in the first round on Aug. 18.
Jalalon shone the brightest in the first quarter when he exploded for 11 points that set the tone for the rout as the Chiefs handed the reigning five-peat champions their worst defeat of the season since an 80-93 setback to the Letran Knights in July.
Jalalon, 23, however, said it was just coincidence that he excelled when faced against San Beda.
“I was just angry at myself, not at San Beda because we’re coming off two straight losses that I feel we should have won,” said Jalalon, a native of Cagayan de Oro, in Filipino.
