PADRIGAO ALL GUTS, SWEAT, AND TEARS IN EVENTFUL RETURN TO ATENEO

IN terms of hard-earned wins, nothing might beat this 98-89 University of Santo Tomas victory vs. Ateneo for a while.

With the Blue Eagles at home in their newly-renovated Blue Eagle Gym, the Growling Tigers took the saying ‘going the distance’ to new heights, as the heavyweight bout needed three extra periods to be decided - ultimately in favor of the black-and-gold.

READ: UST raids Jared's house, ruins Ateneo homecoming in 3OT classic

Of course, the game was of extra relevance to UST guard Forthsky Padrigao, who once prowled the Katipunan campus and trained at the BEG in its old form before his move to Espana.

"Just happy that the team showed heart kanina," said Padrigao, who scored 20 points on top of four rebounds and two assists. "Talagang paguran yung game and all we needed to do is show our heart, and show our grit, and it paid off noong dulo."

"Even with Ateneo, we respect them kasi battled with us, especially tatlong overtimes," he added.

Boo birds for Forthsky?

When La Salle's Mason Amos faced Ateneo for the first time in the UAAP last week, he got booed right from introductions and all the way through the final buzzer.

Padrigao's exit made just as much noise, of course, so it wouldn't be farfetched to think he would suffer the same fate, especially right inside the blue-and-white campus.

The 6-foot primetime playmaker now playing for the Growling Tigers, however, wasn't at the wrong end of hostilities.

"Coming into this game, no," Padrigao answered when asked about anticipating boos from the crowd. "I have good friends in Ateneo. They watched, they asked tickets from me. Wala naman akong ine-expect na boo or anything."

"Umiyak na lang ako kasi pagod na talaga ako, eh. Gusto ko nalang talaga matapos yung game," he added.

Even if the UAAP couldn’t have scripted a better story for the face-off between two of the top teams, Padrigao had no interest in making anything at all about him.

As he said, "The game kanina, I treated it as just another ball game for me. Kasi if you think about those extra pa, baka ma-distract lang tayo."

"I just needed to do my role sa team namin and win this ball game. Nothing personal, just happy to be back here and happy na nakuha natin yung panalo."

2025-10-11T14:15:24Z