UST Growling Tigers’ Mo Tounkara during a UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball game against La Salle Green Archers. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

University of Santo Tomas (UST) is planning to make a final appeal for Mo Tounkara’s eligibility for individual awards in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament, sources told the Inquirer on Friday.

The move comes after the league announced that it denied UST’s appeal for Tounkara to avoid a one-game suspension automatically slapped on the beanpole center from Mali after he was ejected in the Tigers’ 94-87 overtime loss to defending champion La Salle last Wednesday.

That means Tounkara will miss UST’s first home game this season.

The Tigers battle Ateneo’s Blue Eagles at their home court, the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion at noon on Saturday, hours before the Archers take the court against the Adamson Falcons at 3:30 p.m.

Sources said UST officials are working to keep Tounkara, who is averaging 15.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, eligible for the individual awards at the end of the season. Under UAAP rules, players ejected from a game are no longer eligible to win these awards. Tounkara received two technical fouls—both for taunting—in the game against La Salle, which meant automatic ejection.

UST sent its appeal to the Board of Managing Directors.

The UST big was ejected after taunting Mike Phillips, receiving his second technical foul at the 3:38 mark of the fourth quarter.

His first technical was slapped in the first quarter with 5:41 left after flexing his muscles in front of La Salle’s Henry Agunanne—an act classified as “taunting” under Fiba rules.

After the loss, Tounkara admitted that emotions got the better of him, vowing to be better next time.

“Man, I was too much in the game. Sometimes I have to control myself. I think, if I were there, we would’ve had a much [better] chance to win this game. I need to control myself sometimes. I got too much in the game,” he said.

Losing their first two games in the first round, UST seeks to bounce back against Ateneo in front of its home crowd as Forthsky Padrigao stressed that “they need to win” with a 4-5 record to keep their Final Four hopes on track.

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