Things have been looking up lately for Pido Jarencio and his Tigers. —UAAP MEDIA

Pido Jarencio and his University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers are coming off some of their best practice sessions of UAAP Season 87, most especially with a men’s basketball tournament Final Four slot on the line on Saturday.

“I can’t say enough as far as the effort that I have been seeing goes,” Jarencio told the Inquirer over the phone after wrapping up preparations for a crucial clash with Adamson, where a win would give the Tigers No. 3 seeding in the semifinals. “They’re focused. My players know what’s at stake.”

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After a roller-coaster campaign heading into the tail end of classification, the Tigers have a shot at finishing as high as third with a win in their 6:30 p.m. clash with the Soaring Falcons at Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

For payback

Jarencio and his charges are aware of this, but want to win this game for another reason.

“It’s the simple chance to get back at them,” he said, referring to a first round loss that characterized how inconsistent the Tigers were, before the loss to ousted National University a couple of weeks back triggered a reawakening among the players.

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“It’s like this is a very different team from the one [that played the first nine games],” Jarencio said proudly. “The team had a long talk. It was a lively discussion and everyone had their inputs. And this is the result.”

Santo Tomas will come into the contest with a 6-7 record, tied with University of the East, while Adamson is at 5-7 and with basically two chances left to sew up a Final Four spot.

A win will give Santo Tomas No. 3 even if it ends up tied with the Red Warriors, who still have a game left. That means the Tigers will be clashing with No. 2 University of the Philippines and they will need to beat the Fighting Maroons two straight times to advance to the finals.

Defending champion La Salle, which topped the eliminations with a 12-2 record, will face the No. 4 team, needing only to win once to advance to the best-of-three Finals.

“The important thing is that we’re still in the running,” Adamson coach Nash Racela said after their recent win.

Adamson’s last assignment will be also-ran Ateneo on Nov. 23 in a makeup for the postponed Oct. 23 contest due to Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine,” while UE will finally UP play on Nov. 20 after their first two scheduled duels were called off due to different circumstances.

Also still in the running is Far Eastern with a 5-8 record, but the Tamaraws need to hurdle the Maroons at 2 p.m. and they hope that no other team reaches seven wins so they can force a playoff for No. 4.