# 1997 UST Growling Tigers basketball team

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.
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.
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.
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.

## Roster
### 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.

### Subtractions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PG | 4 | Francis Mangyao | 6' 0" | 4th | University of Southern Philippines Foundation | Transferred to Saint Francis of Assisi College |
| C | 15 | Christopher Cantonjos | 6' 6" | 4th | Colegio de San Juan de Letran | Graduated |
| PF | 16 | Ernesto Ballesteros | 6' 4" | 4th | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Left team to turn professional |
| C | 19 | Chandler Tyrone Donaldson | 6' 5" | 4th | | Out due to a slipped disc injury |

### Additions

| Pos. | No. | Player | Height | Year | High school | Notes |
| PF | 4 | Emmerson Oreta | 6' 3" | 1st | University of Santo Tomas | Rookie |
| C | 6 | Gilbert Lao | 6' 7" | 1st | Uno High School | Rookie |
| C | 7 | Marvin Ortiguerra | 6' 5" | 1st | Mapúa Institute of Technology | Rookie |
| PF | 13 | Ryan Bernardo | 6' 5" | 1st | | Rookie |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason tournament

Preseason game log :
1997 Fr. Martin Cup: 6–2 :
| Game | Date • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 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 • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 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 79–71$^{OT}$ | 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 • Time | Seed | Opponent | Result | Series | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 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 72–74$^{OT}$ | 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 • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Location |
| 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 • Time | Opponent | Result | Record | High points | Location |
| 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 75–76$^{OT}$ | 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 |
| 2001 | 4 | 4 | 34 | Ryan Bernardo | Mobiline Phone Pals |
| 2002 | 4 | 6 | 32 | Richard Melencio | Shell Turbo Chargers |