UAAP: Acido says it’s the little things that helped UST regain its groove

University of Santo Tomas‘ Amiel Acido against Far Eastern University in UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball. UAAP Media.MANILA — Amiel Acido rose to the occasion as University of Santo Tomas finally returned to the win column, and the sweet-shooting forward said it was actually a straightforward fix that helped the Growling Tigers revive their Final Four hopes in UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball.

“During the past games, we lacked energy and effort. Ang naging kulang namin, yung little things, like boxing out, getting the rebounds,” said Acido after firing 23 points on four three-pointers in UST’s 86-85 victory over Far Eastern University on Sunday.

The Growling Tigers entered the contest burdened with a three-game skid, with their defeats largely coming in closely fought outings.

UST fell to National University, 75-71, and dropped a heartbreaking 103-101 overtime decision to University of the Philippines. The Tigers also stayed within striking distance of De La Salle University before fading late in a 92-80 defeat.

For Acido, those losses highlighted the importance of doing the dirty work throughout the game.

“Yun ang naging factor why during the end games, we fall short,” he said.

UST deputy coach Peter Martin echoed Acido’s assessment, particularly after the Tigers were dominated on the boards in recent losses. NU outrebounded UST, 59-29, while UP owned a slim 52-50 edge in rebounding.

“It’s not that we did not give effort in our past games. But we lost by 30 sa rebounding, so we addressed that and pinapagalitan namin sila sa practices,” Martin said.

The adjustments paid off against FEU.

Despite the Tamaraws entering the game as the league’s top rebounding team at 49.4 rebounds per contest, UST won the battle on the glass, 44-33.

The Tigers also contained rebounding leader Mo Konateh, who was limited to nine rebounds after averaging 13.4 boards through FEU’s first 10 games.

For Martin, the victory was a product of how the team responded to adversity during its losing streak.

“We didn’t quit,” he said. “If you look at our practices, it became harder, it became more intense, and they became more focused, and that’s the spirit that we want to continue.”

UST closes the elimination round against University of the East, Ateneo de Manila University, and Adamson University, with its Final Four hopes still alive, and Martin stressed that the Tigers must carry the same approach into their remaining assignments to maximize their chances of staying in the playoff race.

“Even if we win our last three games, we’re not assured of anything, but we still want to finish strongly,” he said.”We will try to address those more. We’re not a perfect team, we’re far from that. But as long as we stick together and we’re all focused, we’ll take it one game at a time.”