MANILA, Philippines – University of Santo Tomas thwarted a late-game rally by Far Eastern University to win, 81-71, late Wednesday (06 November 2019) and move closer at moving on to the next phase of the 82^nd UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball stepladder semifinals.

The Growling Tigers started out strong, firing on all cylinders from the outset that allowed them to establish double-digit leads against the 3rd seeded Tamaraws.

Newly-minted Most Valuable Player Soulemane Chabi Yo had an explosive game as he finished with 25 points with 11 rebounds for UST.

Brent Paraiso tallied 18 points while Renzo Subido had 14 points to help the Growling Tigers move one step closer to the UAAP finals.

The Tigers took a commanding 54-28 lead at the half on the strength of a volley of nine treys courtesy of UST MVP Chabi Yo.

The Tamaraws refused to go down easily and they even tightened up their defense in the third quarter that allowed them to trim down the lead to just 10 points, 64-54.

However, the Growling Tigers stood their ground in the final frame of the match and finished strong to get their victory and set a battle with the second-seeded University of The Philippines, which has a twice to beat advantage.

Ken Tuffin led the Tamaraws with 20 points, while their sophomore guard LJ Gonzales had 11 points and 9 assists.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles, who completed a clean sweep of elimination, await who they in the finals which is a toss-up between UST and UP. (Lloyd Tagbago/IAMIGO/CNS)