# 1994 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

The 1994 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 57th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1994–95 began on July 16, 1994, and the host school for the season was National University.
UST finished third at the end of the double round-robin eliminations, winning eight games against four losses. Even as the Adamson Falcons were suspended for the year due to eligibility violations involving former UST high school player Marlou Aquino, the Tigers still found themselves struggling in the first round as they barely made it to fourth place in the standings with a 3–3 record. They managed to win four straight games in the next round, including a 68–66 win over the De La Salle Green Archers which prevented them from getting their own season sweep and an outright championship.
They defeated the No. 2-ranked UE Red Warriors in two games of their Final Four pairing to overcome their twice-to-win disadvantage and advance to the Finals against La Salle. The Tigers yielded a 74–77 loss to the Archers in Game 1 of the best-of-three series, but were able to extend it to a third and deciding game after an 87–75 Game 2 victory. They had succeeded in defending the crown when they won in Game 3 by a single point at 77–76. The Tigers were able to wrest the lead from La Salle when Bal David converted both his free throws off a foul from the Archers' Elmer Lago with six seconds left. It was the team's first back-to-back title since winning a three peat from 1951 until 1953. They also helped to achieve the UAAP's first and only triple championship after their junior and women's team earlier won the titles in their respective divisions.
Dennis Espino, who had poured his frustration out of getting excluded from the Asian Games-bound national team into the Tigers' championship run was named season MVP for the second straight year. He was looking forward to representing the country and even had to drop 15 units of his college load and delay graduation just to be able to keep up with practices of both squads, but was then relegated as a reserve along with two amateur players after the Philippine Basketball Association allowed the inclusion of other professional players to the team.

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Espino | Cantonjos | Donaldson |
| PF | Reyes | Yee | |
| SF | Guinto | Del Rosario | Melencio |
| SG | R. David | Ong | Lao |
| PG | B. David | Singson | Villanueva |

## Roster changes
### Subtractions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PF | 7 | Reynaldo Evangelista | 6' 4" | 5th | St. Peter's College of Ormoc | Graduated |
| SG | 8 | Patrick Roy Fran | 6' 0" | 5th | Aquinas School | Graduated |
| SG | 9 | Rudolf Belmonte | 5' 11" | 5th | San Beda College | Graduated |
| SF | 10 | Alexander Tan | 6' 2" | 3rd | | Academic deficiencies |
| SG | 13 | Danilo Abugan | 6' 1" | 3rd | | Academic deficiencies |
| PG | 14 | Bethune Tanquingcen | 5' 9" | 4th | Philippine Cultural High School | Graduated |
| SF | 17 | Generoso Tengco, Jr. | 6' 0" | 4th | University of Santo Tomas | Graduated |
| PG | 18 | Rizaldy Ramos | 5' 9" | 5th | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Graduated |

### Additions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PG | 4 | Emmanuel Joel Villanueva | 5' 9" | 1st | University of Santo Tomas | Rookie |
| SG | 8 | Richard Melencio | 5' 9" | 1st | San Beda College | Rookie |
| SG | 9 | Romel David | 5' 10" | 2nd | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Returning from Season 55 |
| PG | 10 | Ramon Singson | 5' 11" | 1st | Mandaue Academy | Rookie |
| PF | 12 | Richard Yee | 6' 4" | 1st | Antique National School | Rookie |
| PG | 14 | Edfendel Lao | | 2nd | Adamson University | Transferred from Adamson University |
| SG | 18 | Henry Ong | 5' 11" | 2nd | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Transferred from De La Salle University |
| C | 19 | Chandler Tyrone Donaldson | 6' 5" | 1st | | Rookie |

## Schedule and results
### UAAP games

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on RPN 9 by Silverstar Sports.
UAAP Season 57 game log :
Elimination round: 8–4 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | Jul 20 • 1:00 pm | NU Bulldogs | W 127–102 | 1–0 | Espino (19) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 2 | Jul 23 • 3:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 82–72 | 2–0 | David (22) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 3 | Jul 26 • 3:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | L 75–84 | 2–1 | Espino (23) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 4 | Jul 30 • 1:00 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | W 84–66 | 3–1 | Espino (22) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 5 | Aug 7 • 5:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | L 78–80 | 3–2 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 6 | Aug 13 • 5:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers End of R1 of eliminations | L 73–83 | 3–3 | | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
| 7 | Aug 20 • 5:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 95–91 | 4–3 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 8 | Aug 24 • 5:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | L 74–77 | 4–4 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 9 | Aug 27 • 5:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers | W 68–66 | 5–4 | | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
| 10 | Aug 30 • 3:00 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | W 74–71 | 6–4 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 11 | Sep 7 • 3:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | W 78–65 | 7–4 | Tied (14) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 12 | Sep 10 • 1:00 pm | NU Bulldogs End of R2 of eliminations | W 81–70 | 8–4 | Cantonjos (18) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
Final Four: 2–0 :
| Game | Date • Time | Seed | Opponent | Result | Series | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 1 | Sep 17 • 4:45 pm | (#3) | (#2) UE Red Warriors | W 87–81 | 1–0 (9–4) | Reyes (24) | | | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
| 2 | Sep 21 • 3:00 pm | (#3) | (#2) UE Red Warriors | W 83–74 | 2–0 (10–4) | Espino (22) | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
Finals: 2–1 :
| Game | Date • Time | Seed | Opponent | Result | Series | High points | Location |
| 1 | Sep 24 • 5:00 pm | (#3) | (#1) De La Salle Green Archers | L 74–77 | 0–1 (10–5) | Reyes (18) | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
| 2 | Oct 1 • 4:30 pm | (#3) | (#1) De La Salle Green Archers | W 89–75 | 1–1 (11–5) | Espino (22) | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
| 3 | Oct 8 • 4:00 pm | (#3) | (#1) De La Salle Green Archers | W 77–76 | 2–1 (12–5) | Tied (15) | Cuneta Astrodome Pasay |
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in UTC+08:00. Source: Google News Archives :

### Postseason tournaments

Postseason game log :
1994 Battle of the Champions: 1–0 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 1 | Dec 19 • 6:00 pm | San Sebastian Stags | W 84–81 | 1–0 | B. David (14) | | | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
1995 National Students Basketball Championships—NCR leg: 3–3 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | Jan 26 • 10:30 am | UM Hawks | L 74–100 | 0–1 | Cantonjos (24) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 2 | Jan 27 • 5:30 pm | Letran Knights | W 88–75 | 1–1 | Cantonjos (27) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 3 | Jan 28 • 4:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | W 94–89$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | Cantonjos (26) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 4 | Jan 29 • 10:30 am | DOMC Cobras | W 91–80 | 3–1 | Ballesteros (23) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 5 | Jan 30 • 4:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | L 56–74 | 3–2 | Carillo (13) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 6 | Jan 31 • 10:30 am | UM Hawks | L 76–87 | 3–3 | Cantonjos (27) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in UTC+08:00.
↑ The game was stopped after a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams erupted. :

## Awards

| Name | Award | Date |
| Team | UAAP champions | 8 Oct 1994 |
| Dennis Espino | Season MVP | 8 Oct 1994 |
| Dennis Espino | UAAP Mythical team | 8 Oct 1994 |
| Henry Ong | FCBL Mythical team | 20 Jun 1994 |

## Players drafted into the PBA

Dennis Espino was picked first overall in the 1995 PBA draft by the Nat Canson-led Sta. Lucia Realtors team on January 8, 1995. Edmund Reyes and Bal David also got selected in the same rookie draft, with Reyes earning a first-round seventh overall selection and David in the third round as the 22nd pick.
| Year | Round | Pick | Overall | Player | PBA team |
| 1995 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Dennis Espino | Sta. Lucia Realtors |
| 1995 | 1 | 7 | 7 | Edmund Reyes | Purefoods TJ Hotdogs |
| 1995 | 3 | 7 | 22 | Bal David | Sunkist Orange Juicers |