The 1995 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 58th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1995–96 began on July 15, 1995, and the host school for the season was the Ateneo de Manila University.
UST finished the double round-robin eliminations at first place with 11 wins against 3 losses. They fell into a two-game losing streak early in the first round, with the Ateneo Blue Eagles winning over them for the first time in the last five years, and the UE Red Warriors handing them down a 19-point 54–73 defeat. The Tigers closed out the first round with a denial of the De La Salle Green Archers' quest for an undefeated season, snapping their 6-game winning streak with a 75–59 victory. They had an average winning margin of 11.7 points and an average losing margin of 9.3 points per game.
In the Final Four, UST overcame a 65–76 loss from the No. 4-ranked FEU Tamaraws by winning 74–68 in the deciding game to qualify to the Finals, where they were once again facing La Salle in a repeat of last year's best-of-three series. The Green Archers won Game 1 by 10 points, but the Tigers once again succeeded in extending the series to a third game after a 66–62 Game 2 win. In the deciding game, Dale Singson scored the last basket with a layup in the last 9.4 seconds after driving past La Salle's Jason Webb for a 67–64 count. The Archers missed a three-point shot as time expired, giving UST their third three peat since the 1946–48 seasons.
Chris Cantonjos was named Most Valuable Player of the season, while Gerard Francisco won the Rookie of the Year award.
Roster
Depth chart
Roster changes Subtractions PG 4 Emmanuel Joel Villanueva 5' 9" 2nd University of Santo Tomas Academic deficienciesPF 5 Edmund Reyes 6' 3" 5th Good Shepherd Academy GraduatedPG 11 Bal David Jr. 5' 9" 3rd University of Santo Tomas Left team to turn professionalPG 14 Edfendel Lao 3rd Adamson University Academic deficienciesC 16 Dennis Espino 6' 6" 5th Holy Angel University Graduated
Additions PG 4 Francis Mangyao 6' 0" 2nd University of Southern Philippines Foundation Transferred from Salazar Institute of TechnologySG 6 Angelo Velasco 5' 9" 1st St. Francis High School RookieSF 12 Gerard Raymond Francisco 6' 3" 1st University of Santo Tomas RookieSF 13 Ramon Talaga, III 1st RookiePF 16 Ernesto Ballesteros 6' 4" 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology Returning from Season 55
Schedule and results Preseason tournament
UAAP games
Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on PTV 4 by Silverstar Sports.
Postseason tournament
Awards Team Fr. Martin Cup runners-up2 Jun 1995 McDonald's Cup runners-up4 Feb 1996 UAAP champions7 Oct 1995Chris Cantonjos Season MVP Mythical team Gerard Francisco Rookie of the Year
References