MANILA, Philippines – University of Santo Tomas (UST) coach Boy Sablan pointed to a lack of experience and maturity following another painful loss in the UAAP Season 80 men's basketball tournament.

For the second time this season, the Growling Tigers found themselves on the losing end of close game against University of the Philippines (UP), as Marvin Lee misfired on a potential game-winning three-pointer to allow the Fighting Maroons to come away with a 71-69 win.

In the first round, UP got a now iconic game-winning triple from Paul Desiderio to break UST's hearts, 74-73.

"Maturity and experience, 'yun lang ang kulang," said Sablan after the loss, which dropped the Growling Tigers to 0-8 – the lone winless team in Season 80.

• READ: UP puts a stop to struggles, piles onto woes of winless UST

Sablan was particularly disappointed with UST's final play of the game, which saw Zach Huang secure the offensive rebound off Lee's miss. Instead of immediately putting up a shot or fishing for a foul, however, Huang squandered valuable time in finding Lee, whose heave came after the final buzzer had sounded.

"San ka naman nakakita na na-rebound, dying seconds, nilabas pa?" Sablan said.

"'Yung maturity nga. One classic example is 'yung last play. Na-rebound mo, ilalabas mo pa. Eh what kung na-rebound, itinira, na-shoot at na-foul? What if na-foul, tapos penalty. Bakit mo ilalabas?" he added. "Inexperience talaga."

Their woes at the free throw line was another testament to their inexperience, Sablan pointed out. As a team, UST converted only 20 of 34 free throws, with Vaughn Soriano in particular bricking four charities in the fourth quarter alone

"Talagang issue 'yung free throw," said Sablan. "Ang daming mintis. That is also pressure on their part, kasi nga inexperienced. Hindi natin alam, baka may mga kinakabahan diyan. Ang daming tao, hindi natin alam."

For Sablan, it is a testament to UST's talent and hard work that they managed to stay competitive in games despite their collective lack of experience. The problem, he said, is that they lack what it takes to close out a game.

"Ito rin 'yung part ng rebuilding process," said Sablan, who again made a point of emphasizing that his squad is composed of eight veterans and eight rookies – most of whom are playing major minutes in the UAAP for the first time.

"Noong inabutan ko 'yan, walang playing time 'yang mga 'yan," said Sablan, who is in his second season as UST's head coach. "Let's face it – we have to develop and invest time in these players, kasi nakikita ko 'yung potential nila."

"Alam mong meron. At least, these are the players that you need to invest in."

UST will try to recover on Sunday against Far Eastern University.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)