The 1993 UST Team: Reliving the Growling Tigers Glory Days

Prior to the dominance that the Ateneo Blue Eagles are inflicting on the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in the last three seasons, another team was doing the same thing during the early 90s. In fact, another team accomplished the same feat that Tab Baldwin and his boys have accomplished last year when the blue and white squad swept the entire Season 82 en route to their third straight championship in the last four years. 

The only difference was that the last time the season was swept by one team: that team won the championship without going through the traditional Final Four or even a championship series. That team happened to be the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers. Or as past fans would know them back then, it was the Golden Tigers. Incidentally, it happened when the UAAP first introduced the Final Four format.

The UAAP was in its 56th season and UST still looking for their first championship since 1964 when they were led by none other than the late Aric del Rosario who would later become the head coach of the Tigers and made UST glowing anew. And who knew that this UST team would give dominance a greater meaning? After all, this is the same UST team that only mustered a fourth-place finish in Season 55.

That 1993 team had a stacked line up of players who would later become some of the big guns in Philippine basketball. Guys like Bal David, Rey Evangelista, Edmund Reyes, Patrick Fran, Chris Cantojos, Udoy Belmonte, Siot Tanquigcen, and of course, Dennis Espino who would go on to win not just one but two UAAP Most Valuable Player awards. 

Season 56 kicked off for UST with a game against the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the former won it, 93-66. From that point on, the Glowing Tigers would go on unbeaten en route to the first championship in the Aric del Rosario era and they did it in a fashion that looked both so easy and not. They averaged 82 points per game in those 14 games while reaching the century mark twice: 107 points against the National University Bulldogs and, 113 points in another win against Ateneo. Defensively, the Glowing Tigers did a great job as they did on offense as they limited opponents to 67 points per game. In those games, the Glowing Tigers won by an average winning margin of 14 points with the fewest winning margin that UST had was five points against the University of the East Red Warriors, 82-77.

What made the 1993 UST team extra special?

For one, it signaled UST's return to basketball glory and they accomplished not because of the deep talent that this team had.  They accomplished the said because they were disciplined on both ends of the court and yes, they were mentored by the great Aric del Rosario who stayed at the helm until 2003. But more importantly, they still held the distinction of being the lone team in the UAAP to sweep the season and automatically win the championship without facing an opponent in the finals.

Sure, Ateneo went 16-0 26 years later but nothing would beat the accomplishment of the 1993 UST team. After all, UE did finish 14-0 back in 2007 but it didn't equalize to a championship, did it?

Photo is from SPIN.ph