1994 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

The 1994 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 57th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1994–95 began on July 16, 1994, and the host school for the season was National University.[1]

1994 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball
UAAP Season 57 champions
Record
Elims rank #3
Final rank#1
1994 record12–5 (8–4 elims)
Head coachAric del Rosario (8th season)
Assistant coachesDong Vergeire
Binky Favis
CaptainBal David (3rd season)
Seasons
← 1993
1995 →

UST finished third at the end of the double round-robin eliminations, winning eight games against four losses. Even as the Adamson Falcons were suspended for the year due to eligibility violations involving former UST high school player Marlou Aquino, the Tigers still found themselves struggling in the first round as they barely made it to fourth place in the standings with a 3–3 record. They managed to win four straight games in the next round, including a 68–66 win over the De La Salle Green Archers which prevented them from getting their own season sweep and an outright championship.[2][3]

They defeated the No. 2-ranked UE Red Warriors in two games of their Final Four pairing to overcome their twice-to-win disadvantage and advance to the Finals against La Salle. The Tigers yielded a 74–77 loss to the Archers in Game 1 of the best-of-three series, but were able to extend it to a third and deciding game after an 87–75 Game 2 victory. They had succeeded in defending the crown when they won in Game 3 by a single point at 77–76. The Tigers were able to wrest the lead from La Salle when Bal David converted both his free throws off a foul from the Archers' Elmer Lago with six seconds left. It was the team's first back-to-back title since winning a three peat from 1951 until 1953. They also helped to achieve the UAAP's first and only triple championship after their junior and women's team earlier won the titles in their respective divisions.[4][5][6][7]

Dennis Espino, who had poured his frustration out of getting excluded from the Asian Games-bound national team into the Tigers' championship run was named season MVP for the second straight year. He was looking forward to representing the country and even had to drop 15 units of his college load and delay graduation just to be able to keep up with practices of both squads, but was then relegated as a reserve along with two amateur players after the Philippine Basketball Association allowed the inclusion of other professional players to the team.[8][9]

Roster

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UST Growling Tigers roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Year High School
PG 4   Emmanuel Joel Villanueva 5'9" (1.75m) 1st University of Santo Tomas
PF 5   Edmund Reyes 6'3" (1.91m) 5th Good Shepherd Academy
SG 6   Lester Andrew del Rosario 5'11" (1.8m) 3rd University of Santo Tomas
SF 7   Francisco Guinto 6'3" (1.91m) 2nd
SG 8   Richard Melencio 5'9" (1.75m) 1st San Beda College
SG 9   Romel David 5'10" (1.78m) 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology
PG 10   Ramon Singson 5'11" (1.8m) 1st Mandaue Academy
PG 11   Bal David, Jr. (C) 5'9" (1.75m) 3rd University of Santo Tomas
PF 12   Richard Yee 6'4" (1.93m) 1st Antique National School
PG 14   Edfendel Lao 2nd Adamson University
C 15   Christopher Cantonjos 6'6" (1.98m) 2nd Colegio de San Juan de Letran
C 16   Dennis Espino 6'6" (1.98m) 5th Holy Angel University
SG 18   Henry Ong 5'11" (1.8m) 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology
C 19   Chandler Tyrone Donaldson 6'5" (1.96m) 1st
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Team manager
  • Benito Lim
  • Timmy Koh Teng Chong

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  •   Injured

Depth chart

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Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Espino Cantonjos Donaldson
PF Reyes Yee
SF Guinto Del Rosario Melencio
SG R. David Ong Lao
PG B. David Singson Villanueva

Roster changes

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Subtractions

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Pos. No. Nat. Player Height Year High school Notes
PF 7   Reynaldo Evangelista 6' 4" 5th St. Peter's College of Ormoc Graduated
SG 8   Patrick Roy Fran 6' 0" 5th Aquinas School Graduated
SG 9   Rudolf Belmonte 5' 11" 5th San Beda College Graduated
SF 10   Alexander Tan 6' 2" 3rd Academic deficiencies
SG 13   Danilo Abugan 6' 1" 3rd Academic deficiencies
PG 14   Bethune Tanquingcen 5' 9" 4th Philippine Cultural High School Graduated
SF 17   Generoso Tengco, Jr. 6' 0" 4th University of Santo Tomas Graduated
PG 18   Rizaldy Ramos 5' 9" 5th Mapúa Institute of Technology Graduated

Additions

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Pos. No. Nat. Player Height Year High school Notes
PG 4   Emmanuel Joel Villanueva 5' 9" 1st University of Santo Tomas Rookie
SG 8   Richard Melencio 5' 9" 1st San Beda College Rookie
SG 9   Romel David 5' 10" 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology Returning from Season 55
PG 10   Ramon Singson 5' 11" 1st Mandaue Academy Rookie
PF 12   Richard Yee 6' 4" 1st Antique National School Rookie
PG 14   Edfendel Lao 2nd Adamson University Transferred from Adamson University
SG 18   Henry Ong 5' 11" 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology Transferred from De La Salle University
C 19   Chandler Tyrone Donaldson 6' 5" 1st Rookie

Schedule and results

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UAAP games

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Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on RPN 9 by Silverstar Sports.[10]

UAAP Season 57 game log
Elimination round: 8–4
Game Date • Time Opponent Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Location
1 Jul 20 • 1:00 pm NU Bulldogs W 127–102 1–0 Espino (19) Loyola Center
Quezon City
2 Jul 23 • 3:00 pm UP Fighting Maroons W 82–72 2–0 David (22) Loyola Center
Quezon City
3 Jul 26 • 3:00 pm UE Red Warriors L 75–84 2–1 Espino (23) Loyola Center
Quezon City
4 Jul 30 • 1:00 pm Ateneo Blue Eagles W 84–66 3–1 Espino (22) Loyola Center
Quezon City
5 Aug 7 • 5:00 pm FEU Tamaraws L 78–80 3–2 Loyola Center
Quezon City
6 Aug 13 • 5:00 pm De La Salle Green Archers
End of R1 of eliminations
L 73–83 3–3 Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
7 Aug 20 • 5:00 pm UP Fighting Maroons W 95–91 4–3 Loyola Center
Quezon City
8 Aug 24 • 5:00 pm UE Red Warriors L 74–77 4–4 Loyola Center
Quezon City
9 Aug 27 • 5:00 pm De La Salle Green Archers W 68–66 5–4 Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
10 Aug 30 • 3:00 pm Ateneo Blue Eagles W 74–71 6–4 Loyola Center
Quezon City
11 Sep 7 • 3:00 pm FEU Tamaraws W 78–65 7–4 Tied (14) Loyola Center
Quezon City
12 Sep 10 • 1:00 pm NU Bulldogs
End of R2 of eliminations
W 81–70 8–4 Cantonjos (18) Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
Final Four: 2–0
Game Date • Time Seed Opponent Result Series High points High rebounds High assists Location
1 Sep 17 • 4:45 pm (#3) (#2) UE Red Warriors W 87–81 1–0
(9–4)
Reyes (24) Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
2 Sep 21 • 3:00 pm (#3) (#2) UE Red Warriors W 83–74 2–0
(10–4)
Espino (22) Loyola Center
Quezon City
Finals: 2–1
Game Date • Time Seed Opponent Result Series High points High rebounds High assists Location
1 Sep 24 • 5:00 pm (#3) (#1) De La Salle Green Archers L 74–77 0–1
(10–5)
Reyes (18) Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
2 Oct 1 • 4:30 pm (#3) (#1) De La Salle Green Archers W 89–75 1–1
(11–5)
Espino (22) Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
3 Oct 8 • 4:00 pm (#3) (#1) De La Salle Green Archers W 77–76 2–1
(12–5)
Tied (15) Cuneta Astrodome
Pasay
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in UTC+08:00.
Source: Google News Archives

Postseason tournaments

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Postseason game log
1994 Battle of the Champions: 1–0
Game Date • Time Opponent Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Location
1 Dec 19 • 6:00 pm San Sebastian Stags W 84–81 1–0 B. David (14) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
1995 National Students Basketball Championships—NCR leg: 3–3
Game Date • Time Opponent Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Location
1 Jan 26 • 10:30 am UM Hawks L 74–100 0–1 Cantonjos (24) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
2 Jan 27 • 5:30 pm Letran Knights W 88–75 1–1 Cantonjos (27) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
3 Jan 28 • 4:00 pm FEU Tamaraws W 94–89OT 2–1 Cantonjos (26) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
4 Jan 29 • 10:30 am DOMC Cobras W 91–80 3–1 Ballesteros (23) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
5[a] Jan 30 • 4:00 pm UE Red Warriors L 56–74 3–2 Carillo (13) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
6 Jan 31 • 10:30 am UM Hawks L 76–87 3–3 Cantonjos (27) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in UTC+08:00.
  1. ^ The game was stopped after a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams erupted.[11]

Awards

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Name Award Date Ref.
Team UAAP champions 8 Oct 1994 [7]
Dennis Espino Season MVP [9]
UAAP Mythical team
Henry Ong FCBL Mythical team 20 Jun 1994 [12]

Players drafted into the PBA

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Dennis Espino was picked first overall in the 1995 PBA draft by the Nat Canson-led Sta. Lucia Realtors team on January 8, 1995. Edmund Reyes and Bal David also got selected in the same rookie draft, with Reyes earning a first-round seventh overall selection and David in the third round as the 22nd pick.[13][14]

Year Round Pick Overall Player PBA team
1995 1 1 1 Dennis Espino Sta. Lucia Realtors
1 7 7 Edmund Reyes Purefoods TJ Hotdogs
3 7 22 Bal David Sunkist Orange Juicers

References

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  1. ^ "Fabella to open UAAP". Manila Standard. 16 Jul 1994.
  2. ^ "Archers tame Tams; bag top Final 4 slot". Manila Standard. 11 Sep 1994.
  3. ^ Cardona, Aldrin (10 Mar 1994). "UAAP suspends Adamson over Aquino caper". Manila Standard.
  4. ^ Cardona, Aldrin (18 Sep 1994). "La Salle ousts FEU; UST turns back UE". Manila Standard.
  5. ^ Cardona, Aldrin (22 Sep 1994). "Tigers rip UE, ready to salvage crown". Manila Standard.
  6. ^ Cardona, Aldrin (25 Sep 1994). "La Salle Archers get jump on UST Tigers". Manila Standard.
  7. ^ a b Atencio, Peter (9 Oct 1994). "Back to back for Tigers". Manila Standard.
  8. ^ Cardona, Aldrin (22 Sep 1994). "UST star Espino takes ouster from Hiroshima quintet badly". Manila Standard.
  9. ^ a b Gulle, Jimbo (27 Dec 1994). "Espino, Cariaso join PBA draft". Manila Standard.
  10. ^ "'Final Four' format still on in UAAP". Manila Standard. 1 Jul 1994.
  11. ^ Amigo, Ismael (31 Jan 1995). "Riot mars UE win over UST". Manila Standard.
  12. ^ "La Salle turns back SSC in FCBL playoff". Manila Standard. 21 Jun 1994.
  13. ^ Angeles, Manny (9 Jan 1995). "Espino to SLR; Feihl to Tondeña". Manila Standard.
  14. ^ "How yesterday's draft in the PBA went". Manila Standard. 9 Jan 1995.