# 1992 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

The 1992 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 55th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1992–93 began on July 18, 1992, and the host school for the season was also UST.
The Glowing Goldies who had been renamed the Golden Tigers ended the double round-robin eliminations at fourth place with 10 wins against four losses. UST found themselves grouped in a quadruple tie at first place with the FEU Tamaraws, the De La Salle Green Archers, and the Adamson Falcons with a 10–3 record heading into the last game of the eliminations. They were looking into a Finals berth with a win over FEU. In the game, UST was trailing, 56–68 with 3:47 remaining when a power outage struck the venue, causing game officials to reschedule the remainder of the game. It was resumed three days later with only the last three minutes left to be contested. The Tigers lost, 76–87. They had managed to come within six points in the last 1:15 from a deficit of 63–76, but the Tamaraws clamped them down with their defense forcing the players to miss their shots.
Team captain Udoy Belmonte and Rey Evangelista were selected to the Mythical first team, while Dennis Espino, who missed a few games including the FEU match in the second round made it to the second team. Espino and Patrick Fran were members of the national team that competed at the ABC Junior Championships in Beijing.

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Espino | Torres | Ballesteros |
| PF | Reyes | Evangelista | Cabaluna |
| SF | Tengco | Tan | Del Rosario |
| SG | Belmonte | Fran | R. David |
| PG | Favis | Tanquingcen | B. David |

## Roster changes
### Subtractions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PG | 10 | Beltran Reyes | 5' 10" | 4th | Ateneo de Manila | Graduated |
| SG | 13 | Danilo Abugan | 6' 1" | 2nd | | Academic deficiencies |
| SG | | James Sichon | 5' 10" | 4th | University of St. La Salle | Graduated |
| SF | | Norman Loyao | | 2nd | | Academic deficiencies |

### Additions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| SG | 6 | Lester Andrew del Rosario | 5' 11" | 1st | University of Santo Tomas | Rookie |
| SG | 10 | Romel David | 5' 10" | 1st | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Rookie |
| PG | 11 | Bal David, Jr. | 5' 9" | 1st | University of Santo Tomas | Rookie |
| PF | | Ernesto Ballesteros | 6' 4" | 1st | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Rookie |
| SF | | Alexander Tan | 6' 2" | 1st | | Rookie |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason tournaments

Preseason game log :
National Students Basketball Championship: 4–2 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | Mar 3 | Xavier University Crusaders | W 92–71 | 1–0 | Belmonte (18) | CSA Gym Iloilo City |
| 2 | Mar 5 | Adamson Soaring Falcons | L 95–96 | 1–1 | Evangelista (24) | CSA Gym Iloilo City |
| 3 | Mar 6 | CCC Marines | W 99–76 | 2–1 | Espino (26) | Tay Tung Gym Bacolod |
| 4 | Mar 7 | FEU Tamaraws | L 76–88 | 2–2 | Belmonte (24) | Tay Tung Gym Bacolod |
| 5 | Mar 8 | CSA Eagles | W 90–73 | 3–2 | Belmonte (24) | CSA Gym Iloilo City |
| 6 | Mar 9 | Adamson Falcons Battle for 3rd place | W 97–89 | 4–2 | Belmonte (22) | CSA Gym Iloilo City |
1992 National Seniors Open: 2–0 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 1 | Mar 27 • 3:00 pm | Anaconda Metal | W 91–89 | 1–0 | Belmonte (16) | | | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 2 | Mar 29 • 9:00 am | JCT Enterprises | W 88–82 | 2–0 | Belmonte (30) | | | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
1992 FCBL Senior Invitational: 7–1 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | May 3 | San Beda Red Lions | W 79–53 | 1–0 | Belmonte (24) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 2 | May 15 | Mapúa Cardinals | W 85–79 | 2–0 | Cabaluna (16) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 3 | May 17 | De La Salle Green Archers | W 50–42 | 3–0 | Reyes (12) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 4 | May 22 | UE Red Warriors | W 78–66 | 4–0 | Espino (18) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 5 | May 29 | San Beda Red Lions | W 67–54 | 5–0 | Tengco (22) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 6 | May 31 | Mapúa Cardinals | L 72–85 | 5–1 | Tied (15) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 7 | Jun 5 | De La Salle Green Archers | W 69–59 | 6–1 | | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
| 8 | Jun 7 | UE Red Warriors | W 85–83 | 7–1 | Fran (14) | Arellano Legarda Gym Manila |
(#) 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 RPN 9 by Silverstar Sports.
UAAP Season 55 game log :
Elimination round: 10–4 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 1 | Jul 18 • 1:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 66–58 | 1–0 | Evangelista (25) | | | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 2 | Jul 25 • 2:30 pm | Adamson Soaring Falcons | L 82–85 | 1–1 | Evangelista (23) | | | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 3 | Jul 30 • 4:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | W | 2–1 | | | | |
| 4 | Aug 1 • 4:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers | W 88–65 | 3–1 | | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 5 | Aug 8 • 1:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | L | 3–2 | | | | |
| 6 | Aug 15 • 4:00 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | W 77–55 | 4–2 | Evangelista (25) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 7 | Aug 23 • 1:30 pm | NU Bulldogs End of R1 of eliminations | W 98–81 | 5–2 | Belmonte (20) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 8 | Aug 30 • 4:00 pm | NU Bulldogs | W 107–64 | 6–2 | Belmonte (27) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 9 | Sep 6 • 4:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | W 95–72 | 7–2 | Evangelista (21) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 10 | Sep 12 • 4:00 pm | Adamson Falcons | W 79–77 | 8–2 | Reyes (19) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 11 | Sep 17 • 4:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 83–73 | 9–2 | Espino (16) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 12 | Sep 19 • 2:00 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | W 72–67 | 10–2 | Reyes (16) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 13 | Sep 26 • 2:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers | L 80–82 | 10–3 | Tied (21) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 14 | Oct 3 • 4:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | Postponed due to power outage | Postponed due to power outage | Postponed due to power outage | Postponed due to power outage | Postponed due to power outage | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 14 | Oct 6 • 3:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws End of R2 of eliminations | L 76–87 | 10–4 | Belmonte (23) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in UTC+08:00. Source: Google News Archives :

## Awards

| Name | Award | Date |
| Team | National Students 2nd runners-up | 9 Mar 1992 |
| Team | FCBL Invitational 2nd runners-up | 12 Jun 1992 |
| Rudolf Belmonte | Mythical first team | 10 Oct 1992 |
| Rey Evangelista | Mythical first team | 10 Oct 1992 |
| Dennis Espino | Mythical second team | 10 Oct 1992 |

## Players drafted into the PBA

Rene Cabaluna and Jay Torres, two of the Tigers' roster members were picked in the PBA draft after their stint in this year's UAAP tournament. Cabaluna was selected 22nd overall in the fourth round of the 1994 PBA draft, while Torres was 7th overall in the second round of the 2000 PBA draft.
| Year | Round | Pick | Overall | Player | PBA team |
| 1994 | 4 | 1 | 22 | Renato Cabaluna | Tondeña 65 Rhum Masters |
| 2000 | 2 | 7 | 17 | Joaquin Dindo Torres | Shell Velocity |