1997 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball
UAAP Season 60 semifinalist
Record
Elims rank #2
Final rank#3
1997 record10–6 (10–4 elims)
Head coachAric del Rosario (11th season)
Assistant coachesDong Vergeire
Binky Favis

The 1997 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 60th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1997–98 began on July 12, 1997, and the host school for the season was Adamson University.[1]

UST won their last six games after suffering back-to-back losses in between the two rounds of the double round-robin eliminations, for a second-place finish with 10 wins against 4 losses. The De La Salle Green Archers had the same win–loss record but were ranked lower on an inferior -5 quotient.[2]

Two of their games went into overtime, with both resulting to wins over the FEU Tamaraws, 79–71 in the first round; and against the UE Red Warriors, 85–77 in the second round.[3][4]

The Tigers lost their Final Four match against La Salle, their recurrent playoff opponent since 1994. UST squandered their twice-to-beat advantage with a 73–82 loss, resulting to a knockout game, where they were eventually eliminated after a 72–74 overtime loss.[5]

Roster

UST Growling Tigers roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Year High School
PF 4 Philippines Emmerson Oreta 6'3" (1.91m) 1st University of Santo Tomas
SF 5 Philippines John Dale Valena 6'0" (1.83m) 2nd University of Santo Tomas
C 6 Philippines Gilbert Lao 6'7" (2.01m) 1st Uno High School
C 7 Philippines Marvin Ortiguerra 6'5" (1.96m) 1st Mapúa Institute of Technology
SF 8 Philippines Ramon Talaga, III 6'0" (1.83m) 3rd –
SG 9 Philippines Romel David 5'10" (1.78m) 5th Mapúa Institute of Technology
PG 10 Philippines Ramon Singson 5'11" (1.8m) 4th Mandaue Academy
SG 11 Philippines Richard Melencio 5'9" (1.75m) 4th San Beda College
SF 12 Philippines Gerard Raymond Francisco 6'3" (1.91m) 3rd University of Santo Tomas
PF 13 Philippines Ryan Bernardo 6'5" (1.96m) 1st –
PF 14 Philippines Richard Yee Injured 6'4" (1.93m) 4th Antique National School
C 17 Philippines Melchor Latoreno 6'5" (1.96m) 2nd University of Santo Tomas
SG 18 Philippines Henry Ong 5'11" (1.8m) 5th Mapúa Institute of Technology
SG 20 Philippines Angelo Velasco 5'9" (1.75m) 3rd St. Francis High School
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured Injured

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Ortiguerra Latoreno Lao
PF Oreta Bernardo
SF Francisco David Valena
SG Melencio Ong Talaga
PG Singson Velasco

Roster changes

The Tigers lost team captain and Season 58 MVP Chris Cantonjos to graduation, as well as Mythical team awardee Estong Ballesteros, who decided to join the 1997 PBA Rookie Draft. In their place, UST was able to recruit blue chips from the high school ranks, with UST Tiger Cub Emmerson Oreta who was hailed the UAAP Season 59 Juniors MVP and Mapúa High School's Marvin Ortiguerra, the Juniors MVP of the NCAA in Season 71 coming onboard.[6]

Subtractions

Pos. No. Nat. Player Height Year High school Notes
PG4PhilippinesFrancis Mangyao6' 0"4thUniversity of Southern Philippines FoundationTransferred to Saint Francis of Assisi College
C15PhilippinesChristopher Cantonjos6' 6"4thColegio de San Juan de LetranGraduated
PF16PhilippinesErnesto Ballesteros6' 4"4thMapúa Institute of TechnologyLeft team to turn professional
C19United StatesChandler Tyrone Donaldson6' 5"4thOut due to a slipped disc injury

Additions

Pos. No. Nat. Player Height Year High school Notes
PF4PhilippinesEmmerson Oreta6' 3"1stUniversity of Santo TomasRookie
C6PhilippinesGilbert Lao6' 7"1stUno High SchoolRookie
C7PhilippinesMarvin Ortiguerra6' 5"1stMapúa Institute of TechnologyRookie
PF13PhilippinesRyan Bernardo6' 5"1stRookie

Schedule and results

Preseason tournament

Preseason game log
1997 Fr. Martin Cup: 6–2
Game Date • TimeOpponentResultRecordHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
6 May 30 Letran Knights L 76–85 5–1 Loyola Center
Quezon City
7 Jun 1 Ateneo Blue Eagles L 68–73 5–2 Francisco (15) Loyola Center
Quezon City
8 Jun 4 San Sebastian Stags W 79–64 6–2 David (16) Loyola Center
Quezon City
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in UTC+08:00.

UAAP games

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on PTV 4 by Silverstar Sports.

UAAP Season 60 game log
Elimination round: 10–4
Game Date • TimeOpponentResultRecordHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
1 Jul 12 • 6:00 pm UP Fighting Maroons L 56–63 0–1 Melencio (14) Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
2 Jul 17 • 6:00 pm Ateneo Blue Eagles W 70–59 1–1 Francisco (16) Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
3 Jul 24 • 3:30 pm Adamson Soaring Falcons W 81–65 2–1 Latoreno (16) Loyola Center
Quezon City
4 Jul 27 FEU Tamaraws W 79–71OT 3–1 Melencio (13) Melencio (6) Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
5 Aug 3 NU Bulldogs L 62–68 3–2 Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
6 Aug 7 UE Red Warriors W 67–66 4–2 Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
7 Aug 7 • 6:00 pm De La Salle Green Archers
End of R1 of eliminations		 L 57–64 4–3 Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
8 Aug 21 FEU Tamaraws L 62–68 4–4 Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
9 Aug 30 UE Red Warriors W 85–77 5–4 Melencio (23) Melencio (5) Melencio (2) Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
10 Sep 6 • 6:00 pm Adamson Soaring Falcons W 66–65 6–4 Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
11 Sep 22 NU Bulldogs W 65–59 7–4 Tied (12) Melencio (4) Singson (4) Adamson University Gym Manila
12 Sep 25 • 6:00 pm Ateneo Blue Eagles W 70–52 8–4 Ninoy Aquino Stadium Manila
13 Sep 27 • 4:00 pm De La Salle Green Archers W 70–58 9–4 Loyola Center
Quezon City
14 Sep 30 • 3:00 pm UP Fighting Maroons
End of R2 of eliminations		 W 80–71 10–4 Melencio (18) Melencio (5) Ong (3) Loyola Center
Quezon City
Final Four: 0–2
Game Date • TimeSeedOpponentResultSeriesHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
1 Oct 2 • 3:30 pm (#2) (#3) De La Salle Green Archers L 73–82 0–1
(10–5)		 Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
2 Oct 4 • 2:00 pm (#2) (#3) De La Salle Green Archers L 72–74OT 0–1
(10–6)		 Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in UTC+08:00.
Source: UBelt.com (archived)

Postseason tournaments

Postseason game log
Philippine Invitational Basketball Championship: 0–2
Game Date • TimeOpponentResultRecordHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
1 Dec 2 • 5:00 pm FEU Tamaraws
Semifinal round		 L 65–81 0–1 Ninoy Aquino Stadium
Manila
2 Dec 3 • 2:45 pm SWU Cobras
Semifinal round		 L 61–81 0–2 Ninoy Aquino Stadium
Manila
1997 National Intercollegiate Basketball Championships—NCR leg: 3–2
Game Date • TimeOpponentResultRecordHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
1 Dec 1 San Beda Red Lions W 74–72 1–0 Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
2 Dec 2 CCP Bobcats W 103–85 2–0 David (22) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
3 Dec 3 NU Bulldogs W 78–60 3–0 Tied (16) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
4 Dec 5 UM Hawks L 65–85 3–1 David (15) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
5 Dec 9 San Beda Red Lions L 75–76OT 3–2 Francisco (25) Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in UTC+08:00.

Players drafted into the PBA

Richard Melencio and Ryan Bernardo decided to turn professional after the 1997 season and signed with the Metropolitan Basketball Association's Pangasinan Presidents and Laguna Lakers teams respectively. Both players later applied for the PBA draft, with Bernardo getting picked in the fourth round in 2001 by the Louie Alas-led Mobiline Phone Pals, and Melencio landing the 32nd overall pick in 2002 with the Shell Turbo Chargers team.

Year Round Pick Overall Player PBA team
20014434Ryan BernardoMobiline Phone Pals
20024632Richard MelencioShell Turbo Chargers

References

  1. ↑ Atencio, Peter (13 Jul 1997). "UP upsets 4-time champ UST; La Salle, FEU win as UAAP wars begin". Manila Standard.
  2. ↑ Atencio, Peter (1 Oct 1997). "Tigers maul Maroons, snare 2nd semis slot". Manila Standard.
  3. ↑ Atencio, Peter (28 Jul 1997). "Maroons unbeaten on top of UAAP". Manila Standard.
  4. ↑ Atencio, Peter (31 Aug 1997). "Maroons tame Bulldogs, 88–81 for 6–3 record". Manila Standard.
  5. ↑ Atencio, Peter (5 Oct 1997). "Tams, Archers arrange UAAP title showdown". Manila Standard.
  6. ↑ Atencio, Peter (3 Jul 1997). "1997 UAAP Basketball preview: University of Santo Tomas". Manila Standard.
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