# 1995 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

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

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Cantonjos | Donaldson | |
| PF | Ballesteros | Yee | Guinto |
| SF | Melencio | Francisco | Del Rosario |
| SG | David | Ong | Talaga |
| PG | Singson | Mangyao | Velasco |

## Roster changes
### Subtractions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PG | 4 | Emmanuel Joel Villanueva | 5' 9" | 2nd | University of Santo Tomas | Academic deficiencies |
| PF | 5 | Edmund Reyes | 6' 3" | 5th | Good Shepherd Academy | Graduated |
| PG | 11 | Bal David Jr. | 5' 9" | 3rd | University of Santo Tomas | Left team to turn professional |
| PG | 14 | Edfendel Lao | | 3rd | Adamson University | Academic deficiencies |
| C | 16 | Dennis Espino | 6' 6" | 5th | Holy Angel University | Graduated |

### Additions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PG | 4 | Francis Mangyao | 6' 0" | 2nd | University of Southern Philippines Foundation | Transferred from Salazar Institute of Technology |
| SG | 6 | Angelo Velasco | 5' 9" | 1st | St. Francis High School | Rookie |
| SF | 12 | Gerard Raymond Francisco | 6' 3" | 1st | University of Santo Tomas | Rookie |
| SF | 13 | Ramon Talaga, III | | 1st | | Rookie |
| PF | 16 | Ernesto Ballesteros | 6' 4" | 2nd | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Returning from Season 55 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason tournament

Preseason game log :
1995 Fr. Martin Cup: 6–0 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | May 7 • 10:30 am | SFAC Doves | W 64–61 | 1–0 | Ballesteros (20) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 2 | May 9 • 10:30 am | NU Bulldogs | W 67–59 | 2–0 | Melencio (22) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 3 | May 14 • 10:30 am | JRU Heavy Bombers | W 72–58 | 3–0 | David (17) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 4 | May 16 • 12:00 pm | Benilde Blazers | W 78–64 | 4–0 | Ballesteros (14) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 5 | May 17 • 3:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | W 71–66 | 5–0 | David (18) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 6 | May 30 • 12:00 pm | Adamson Soaring Falcons | W 88–85 | 6–0 | Yee (20) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum 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 PTV 4 by Silverstar Sports.
UAAP Season 58 game log :
Elimination round: 11–3 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | Jul 15 • 7:00 pm | Adamson Soaring Falcons | W 68–64 | 1–0 | | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 2 | Jul 18 • 1:30 pm | NU Bulldogs | W 85–80 | 2–0 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 3 | Jul 23 • 1:30 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | L 54–57 | 2–1 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 4 | Jul 26 • 12:45 pm | UE Red Warriors | L 54–73 | 2–2 | Tied (11) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 5 | Jul 30 • 3:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 69–59 | 3–2 | Yee (18) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 6 | Aug 6 • 3:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | W 85–67 | 4–2 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 7 | Aug 12 • 3:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers End of R1 of eliminations | W 75–59 | 5–2 | Cantonjos (18) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 8 | Aug 19 • 3:00 pm | UP Fighting Maroons | W 82–61 | 6–2 | Yee (17) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 9 | Aug 23 • 1:30 pm | NU Bulldogs | W 77–64 | 7–2 | Yee (19) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 10 | Aug 26 • 3:00 pm | UE Red Warriors | L 61–67 | 7–3 | Francisco (13) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 11 | Aug 29 • 1:30 pm | Adamson Falcons | W 98–84 | 8–3 | Cantonjos (27) | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 12 | Sep 3 • 3:00 pm | FEU Tamaraws | W 86–66 | 9–3 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 13 | Sep 9 • 3:00 pm | Ateneo Blue Eagles | W 72–67 | 10–3 | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
| 14 | Sep 16 • 3:00 pm | De La Salle Green Archers End of R2 of eliminations | W 87–84$^{2OT}$ | 11–3 | | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
Final Four: 1–1 :
| Game | Date • Time | Seed | Opponent | Result | Series | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 1 | Sep 23 • 1:30 pm | (#1) | (#4) FEU Tamaraws | L 65–76 | 0–1 (11–4) | | | | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 2 | Sep 27 • 3:00 pm | (#1) | (#4) FEU Tamaraws | W 74–68 | 1–1 (12–4) | | | | Loyola Center Quezon City |
Finals: 2–1 :
| Game | Date • Time | Seed | Opponent | Result | Series | Location |
| 1 | Sep 30 • 3:00 pm | (#1) | (#2) De La Salle Green Archers | L 78–88 | 0–1 (12–5) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 2 | Oct 4 • 3:00 pm | (#1) | (#2) De La Salle Green Archers | W 66–62 | 1–1 (13–5) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
| 3 | Oct 7 • 3:00 pm | (#1) | (#2) De La Salle Green Archers | W 67–64 | 2–1 (14–5) | Araneta Coliseum Quezon City |
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in UTC+08:00. Source: Google News Archives :

### Postseason tournament

Postseason game log :
1996 McDonald's Cup Battle of Champions: 3–1 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 1 | Feb 1 | PSBA Jaguars | W 79–75 | 1–0 | | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 2 | Feb 2 | PUP Mighty Maroons | W 90–86 | 2–0 | Cantonjos (18) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 3 | Feb 3 | San Sebastian Stags | W 84–77 | 3–0 | Ong (17) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
| 4 | Feb 4 | San Sebastian Stags Championship game | L 72–78 | 3–1 | Tied (13) | Rizal Memorial Coliseum Manila |
(#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in UTC+08:00. :

## Awards

| Name | Award | Date |
| Team | Fr. Martin Cup runners-up | 2 Jun 1995 |
| Team | McDonald's Cup runners-up | 4 Feb 1996 |
| Team | UAAP champions | 7 Oct 1995 |
| Chris Cantonjos | Season MVP | 7 Oct 1995 |
| Chris Cantonjos | Mythical team | 7 Oct 1995 |
| Gerard Francisco | Rookie of the Year | 7 Oct 1995 |