The 2013 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 76th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 2013-2014 began on June 29, 2013 and the host school for the season was Adamson University.

The Tigers, who at one point in the season were at sixth place in the standings with a 4-5 record finished fourth at the end of the double round-robin eliminations with eight wins against six losses. They made it to the Finals for the second straight year after defeating the No. 1-ranked NU Bulldogs in a repeat of their Final Four match last year while having a twice-to-win disadvantage. UST made history by becoming the first fourth-seeded team in the UAAP to reach the Finals.

They lost to La Salle in the best-of-three championship series. The Tigers who were facing the Green Archers in the Finals for the first time since 1999, had snapped La Salle's nine-game winning streak in Game One by a single point at 73-72. The Archers went on to win the next two games for the title with Game Three going into overtime.

Cameroonian center Karim Abdul was selected to the Mythical team for the second straight year.

Roster

Depth chart

Roster changes Subtractions PG 7 Jeric Marco Fortuna 5' 7" 5th De La Salle Santiago Zobel School GraduatedPF 8 Carmelo Afuang 6' 4" 5th San Beda College–Rizal GraduatedPG 12 Janrey Garrido 5' 6" 2nd Hope Christian High School Out on injurySG 17 Christian Errol Villar 6' 0" 2nd Hope Christian High School Transferred to Enderun CollegesSG 18 Louie Philippe Vigil 6' 3" 3rd José Rizal University Academic deficienciesC 19 Kenneth Mamaril 6' 5" 3rd San Sebastian College-Recoletos Relegated to Team B

Additions PG 11 Edcor Marata 5' 10" 2nd University of the Visayas Returning from Season 73PF 12 Jon Cornelius Macasaet 6' 3" 1st San Sebastian College-Recoletos RookieSF 14 Brian James So 6' 2" 1st Colegio de San Juan de Letran RookieC 17 Jeepy Faundo 6' 6" 1st José Rizal University RookiePG 18 Sheak Jamil Sheriff, Jr. 5' 9" 2nd Loyola Catholic Secondary School Returning from Season 74SF 19 Kent Jefferson Lao 6' 4" 2nd Saint Stephen's High School Returning from Season 74

Recruiting class Joco Macasaet PF 6' 3" San Sebastian College-Recoletos Batangas City 24 Apr 20132013 National Basketball Training Center Top 30 player

Injuries The Growling Tigers' season was plagued with injuries. Team captain Jeric Teng was leading in statistical points early in the tournament before suffering a slight labral tear on his shoulder. The injury which required the aid of crutches sidelined him for five games. Teng returned in the second round but got injured again after playing just one game when he sustained a pulled hamstring. He was fully recovered in time for the playoffs and was able to play in all of the team's Final Four and championship games.

Aljon Mariano had played the whole season while nursing an ankle injury while Kevin Ferrer suffered a fractured cheek bone from an elbow hit during a game against the UE Red Warriors. The injury required the use of a protective mask during games and corrective eye glasses outside games for a period of two months.

Returning point guard Pipoy Marata and rookie Joco Macasaet both suffered ACL injuries, while Brian So who was also a rookie had a lateral collateral ligament stress. All three players did not finish the season.

Schedule and results Preseason tournaments

The Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup games were aired on Studio 23.

UAAP games

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on Studio 23 and Balls. The second and third games of the Finals series were aired on ABS-CBN and Balls.

Postseason tournament

UAAP statistics Eliminations Karim Abdul 14 14 33.0 82 190 43.2 2 6 33.3 63 97 64.9 12.1 1.4 0.9 2.0 3.2 16.4 Aljon Mariano 14 8 29.7 64 149 43.0 6 17 35.3 45 67 67.2 7.1 2.4 0.5 0.2 2.6 12.8 Jeric Teng 7 7 27.4 30 90 33.3 4 26 15.4 19 24 79.2 4.3 1.7 0.9 0.0 1.6 11.9 Kevin Ferrer 14 10 30.4 58 171 33.9 9 71 12.7 42 61 68.9 8.1 2.1 0.7 1.0 1.9 11.9 Ed Daquioag 14 8 24.4 45 104 43.3 9 37 24.3 24 39 61.5 4.5 2.5 0.6 0.4 2.3 8.8 Tata Bautista 14 8 28.5 38 130 29.2 23 79 29.1 15 19 78.9 3.8 1.6 0.4 0.0 1.7 8.1 Kim Lo 14 6 17.6 17 55 30.9 2 13 15.4 10 15 66.7 2.9 1.1 0.8 0.2 0.9 3.3 Jon Sheriff 8 1 12.5 5 16 31.3 0 0 0.0 6 10 60.0 2.8 1.5 0.3 0.0 0.1 2.0 Brian So 6 2 5.5 2 8 25.0 0 2 0.0 3 4 75.0 0.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.2 Paolo Pe 14 5 11.9 4 19 21.1 0 0 0.0 3 8 37.5 2.9 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.8 Robert Hainga 8 1 4.4 3 7 42.9 0 0 0.0 0 1 0.0 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 Jeepy Faundo 4 0 2.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 2 2 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 Kent Lao 6 0 3.8 0 4 0.0 0 0 0.0 1 2 50.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.2 Joco Macasaet 1 0 9.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 Pipoy Marata 1 0 2.0 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Robin Tan 4 0 3.8 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total 14 41.1 348 944 36.9 55 251 21.9 233 349 66.8 47.8 13.2 4.7 4.2 14.9 70.3 Opponents 14 41.1 358 1,011 35.4 89 369 24.8 140 237 59.1 46.9 14.9 4.1 3.2 15.0 67.5

Playoffs Jeric Teng 5 5 32.0 35 84 41.7 10 25 40.0 16 21 76.2 5.2 2.2 0.2 0.0 1.8 19.2 Karim Abdul 5 5 31.2 25 55 45.5 0 3 0.0 21 22 95.5 8.4 0.2 1.0 2.0 2.4 14.2 Kevin Ferrer 5 5 30.6 17 48 35.4 13 32 40.6 18 25 72.0 5.6 1.2 1.0 0.4 1.8 13.0 Aljon Mariano 5 4 34.0 12 51 23.5 0 7 0.0 14 22 63.6 8.0 1.6 0.6 0.2 3.2 7.6 Tata Bautista 5 0 20.2 12 38 31.6 5 24 20.8 4 6 66.7 2.0 2.0 0.4 0.0 2.0 6.6 Jon Sheriff 5 5 22.6 10 18 55.6 0 0 0.0 6 10 60.0 4.0 2.4 0.6 0.0 1.0 5.2 Ed Daquioag 4 0 12.8 4 14 28.6 0 5 0.0 1 1 100.0 1.0 1.3 0.0 0.3 1.3 2.3 Kent Lao 4 0 8.8 1 6 16.7 0 0 0.0 5 6 83.3 3.0 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.8 Paolo Pe 5 1 11.4 3 7 42.9 0 0 0.0 2 4 50.0 3.8 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.6 1.6 Kim Lo 4 0 7.0 1 4 25.0 0 1 0.0 4 4 100.0 2.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 1.3 1.5 Robert Hainga 1 0 1.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total 5 41.0 120 325 36.9 28 97 28.9 91 121 75.2 44.4 10.8 4.4 3.0 15.6 71.8 Opponents 5 41.0 125 343 36.4 25 98 25.5 76 127 59.8 47.0 12.4 4.4 4.4 14.8 70.2

Source: HumbleBola

Awards Team UAAP runners-up12 Oct 2013 2013 Millennium Basketball League championsMay 2013 Ed Daquioag 2013 Millennium Basketball League MVP Aljon Mariano Filoil Flying V Best Five of the Week6–11 May 2013 Karim Abdul UAAP Mythical team5 Oct 2013

Players drafted into the PBA Jeric Teng was picked 12th overall by the Yeng Guiao-led Rain or Shine Elasto Painters team in the second round of the 2013 PBA draft on November 3, 2013. Tata Bautista applied for the rookie draft in 2014 and was selected 34th overall by the Blackwater Elite on August 24, 2014, while Robert Hainga did the same in 2015 and ended up with the Mahindra Enforcer team as the 49th overall pick on August 23, 2015.

2013 2 2 12 Jeric Teng Rain or Shine Elasto Painters 2014 3 10 34 Clark Bautista Blackwater Elite 2015 6 2 49 Robert Hainga Mahindra Enforcer

References