I'm Glad That's Over

I'm so glad the UAAP Basketball season is over.

Well, I am very very pleased that my Green Archers won the plum after a one-year absence, mind you.  I hope this season shuts up all those naysayers out there. 

With all the excitement of the previous month, my heart needs to rest.  If it were weaker, I may have had suffered a heart attack already [kow - knock on wood].  I'm so glad I'm cutting out on cholesterol-heavy food. 

Anyways, to those reading my blog and find it lacking in various subjects, my apologies.  I'll try to write about a wider spectrum of ideas from now on.  Thanks for indulging me the last 3 months for writing only about LaSalle / UAAP.

Hmm, so what's a nice topic?

The Road to the Championship

To say that De La Salle's road to the championship was difficult is the understatement of the year.

First, they came back from their one-year suspension, the decision of the UAAP board of which some argue as unfair. After all, LaSalle itself was the whistleblower in this. They didn't need to tell that 2 of their players had falsified DECS papers. But they did tell on them, in the spirit of honesty and transparency, in sportsmanship and competition. We had to give up the 2004 Championship, which we would have won anyway because no other team can match us then. I dare every other collegiate institution to check their own ranks and come clean.

In the eliminations, they were beaten twice by both UE and Ateneo, once by UST - the 3 other teams in the Final Four.

La Salle had to fight for every basket with Ateneo in their 3rd meeting, which gave them the 2nd spot and the twice to beat advantage.

Then, they had to go 2 games again with the same Ateneo squad, losing the heartbreaker of a first game by just a point, then soundly beating them in the 2nd game to finally advance to the Finals, where they feel right at home.

You could say a miracle happened after that. UE, who swept the elimination round (14-0), played their last game Sept 13 and earned the first Finals slot. Then they had to wait out for an opponent, which seemed like an eternity -- 3 weeks without any games is indeed just that for a UAAP team. La Salle finally came in with enough emotional momentum to, would you believe, dictate the Finals matches? UE was supposed to control the series. UE seemed unstoppable on paper, with its 2nd unit equally as strong as their 1st five. La Salle's bench was depleted with the injury of Marko Batricevic before the start of the conference, the suspension of Brian Ilad, and with Rico Maierhofer playing hurt. But you cannot coach toughness and heart to a team. You can not teach experience to a squad. UE didn't have that. UE, even after going 14-0, was a child in the Finals. Their last Finals appearance was in 1990, which they lost, yup, you guessed it, to the Archers. So their 16-0 Season dream vanished. This year is La Salle's year! No UAAP board, no Anton Montinola, no LaSalle-bashing can put us down!!! Today is when we take our rightful place in the basketball land.

So thanks to all the other teams for making this season one of the best in recent memory. Thanks to UST for proving that you could not have one Season 69 if La Salle were around. Thank you to Ateneo for giving us one hell of a series - 5 games - and helping us prove that 2 is indeed greater than 3. Thank you to UE for accepting defeat with grace. Thank you to Coach Franz Pumaren for being unfazed in some of the more hopeless situations and fighting and winning right back. Thank you to all the players, the graduating ones: TY and Cholo, next years leaders, JVee and Rico, and to the rest of the boys. We will be back next year to defend our title.

Now, shut up already and let us sing our Alma Mater song, for crying out loud!



Hail, Hail
Alma Mater,
Hail to De La Salle!
We'll hold your banner high and bright,
A shield of green and white,
We'll fight to keep your glory bright,
And never shall we fail,
Hail to thee our Alma Mater!
Hail! Hail! Hail!!!

DLSU is the 2007 Champions!!!

La Salle Sweeps East In Final Series

Two games, right when it matters most. The De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers are definitely back in the UAAP basketball supremacy as they swept the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors in their best-of-three Finals series with a convincing 73-64 victory on October 7 at the Big Dome.

Finals Most Valuable Player Joseph Evans “JV” Casio led the way for the Green and White community as he was exceptional chipping 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

Pocholo Villanueva played his last year with a bang as he rewarded himself with an MVP award. He contributed 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

La Salle totally dominated the game as they only let UE lead in the first quarter and after spurring with an 8-1 advantage, the Taft-based squad tightened up and never looked back.

Casio and Villanueva came to life in the fourth. Casio buried a 3-pointer in the 8:20^th minute mark to further increase the DLSU cushion to five points after UE managed to cut the lead with back-to-back 3 point shots from James Martinez and Mark Borboran. Red Warrior Mark Fampulme posted the scare back against the Green Archers as he brought down the lead of the Archers to 2 at 55-53, 8:03 minutes left in the regulation.

Villanueva converted his charities after a Paul Lee foul to further increase the lead at 57-53.

Lee was exceptional despite fouling out in the game as he converted four straight points, two of which were free throws from OJ Cua’s foul. Lee was the main gunner for UE with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist.

Casio split his freebies that gave La Salle a 3-point cushion over UE at 62- 59.

TY Tang’s rebound less than two minutes left in regulation was crucial as he fished another foul from Lee, forcing the latter to commit his fifth and final foul. The former converted his freebies to increase the lead of the Archers at 64-59.

Borboran missed his free throws after a Cua foul. Casio nailed buzzer-beater 2-pointer less than a minute left. Borboran converted 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists.

Marcy Arellano converted with a field goal to cut the UE bleeding at 66-61.

Casio connected with two more free throws coming off a Jorel Canizares foul 40.7 ticks left. The Archers were on top by 7 points at 68-61.

Arellano was also fouled out giving Cua the opportunity to shoot 2 freebies, 24.1 ticks left.

Casio split his free throws to give La Salle a further icing on the cake.

Martinez converted the last field goal for the Warriors.

Rico Maierhofer wrapped the victory of the Archers with his 2-free throws.

Canizares was the main man for the Recto-based squad in the third quarter. He nailed a field goal that gave the Red and White squad a lift as they cut the Archers’ lead by 3 at 46-43.

Bader Malabes completed his free throws that gave La Salle a 5-point bubble at 48-43.

Tang shot his freebies 9 seconds left giving La Salle a 7-point margin at the end of the third quarter.

La Salle was in total control of the second quarter as it posted the biggest lead of the game at 30-16 with Villanueva completing his free throws, 2:43 minutes left in the half.

La Salle was still on top in the second quarter at 34-23 outscoring the Warriors 19-12.

UE blasted with an 8-1 advantage courtesy of its veterans, Elmer Espiritu, Borboran and Kelvin Gregorio.

La Salle managed to crawl back slowly fishing fouls from Martinez, Lee and Rudy Lingganay.

The Taft-based squad was in the lead 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Villanueva was very happy being crowned as the Finals MVP alongside JV Casio. He is leaving La Salle through graduation with a Finals stint under his belt and an MVP award. Cholo said “It was really a sort of redemption for our part with this win and it’s a pretty game to end my college years and I thank God for it. We were out for a Season but we came back, we proved to them that we are one and we stand for what we believed in.”

Go LaSalle! Go! Go! LaSalle!

La Salle halts UE's winning season!!!

GONE

La Salle unmasked University of the East’s lack of championship experience as the Archers pulled through in a nerve-wracking finish, 64-63, and snapped the Warriors’ unbeaten run in Game One of the best-of-three UAAP title series at the packed Araneta Coliseum.

TY Tang unleashed 17 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, while fellow veterans JV Casio and Cholo Villanueva added 12 and 11 points, respectively, as the Archers took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series the Warriors were fancied to dominate.

Rico Maeirhofer, who has recovered from a sprained ankle he sustained two weeks ago, split his charities with 14 seconds remaining in the contest to shatter a 63-all tie forced by Mark Borboran’s three-pointer from way out.

That, however, turned out to be the marginal basket as the Warriors fumbled on their make-or-break play – another Borboran attempt from behind the arch on top of the key.

“Man for man, we’re no match against them. But we have the experience and the veteran savvy to offset our disadvantages,” said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren whose Archers came off two tough Final Four matches with the Ateneo Eagles.

The Taft-based quintet, which came into the final the clear underdogs after getting swept in the elimination round by the Warriors, goes for its own sweep Sunday, also at the Big Dome.

A decider, if necessary, is on Wednesday.

UE, which last won 22 years ago during the days of Allan Caidic and Jerry Codiñera and which took a three-week long layoff after sweeping the elims, actually had two chances of stealing Game 1 but a three-point try by Borboran and Marcy Arellano’s tip in the dying seconds missed their marks.

Maierhofer plucked the rebound as the final buzzer sounded, triggering off a wild celebration from La Salle fans while silencing the UE side which braced for another romp against a team it dominated in the elims.

But the Archers, also out to redeem themselves from a season-long suspension last year, showed experience and grace under pressure are what it takes to win championship games.

La Salle’s defense rattled the normally cool and unruffled UE quintet as the Warriors turned the ball over 31 times, which the Archers translated into 25 points. La Salle committed only 15 errors that yielded just nine points.

That more than made up for La Salle’s setback in the rebounding department where the Warriors plucked a whopping total of 60 boards, including 29 on the offensive end as against the Archers’ 31.

La Salle’s rebound total was the lowest for a winning team this season.

That, however, hardly mattered.

It was also UE’s lowest scoring total of the season.

“I know they dominated the boards but we found some ways to offset it,” said Franz Pumaren, who steered La Salle to eight finals appearances that netted four titles.

Borboran, playing on final season, led the Warriors with 13 points, including a triple over the outstretched arms of Villanueva that knotted the count with 34.8 ticks left.

But the veteran Warrior couldn’t drain an uncontested three-point shot at endgame that could’ve lifted the UE side.

The Recto-based cagers actually threatened to rip the game apart in the early going, but each time, the Archers displayed a big fighting heart behind Villanueva, Tang, Casio and Maeirhofer.

Ateneo-La Salle: Too big for the Philippines

Ateneo-La Salle: Too big for Philippines
THE GAME OF MY LIFE By Bill Velasco
Monday, October 1, 2007

On Sept. 23, the New York Times published an article on the rivalry between Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle, written by Fulbright scholar Raphael Bartholomew, a graduate of Northwestern who earned a grant to come to the Philippines in November 2005, to write a book about basketball. Almost before he was off the plane, he was bombarded about comments on the most compelling rivalry in Philippine sports.

"People said, 'You haven't seen anything untIl you've seen La Salle-Ateneo,'" explains the 6'4" Bartholomew, who played basketball for Northwestern. "They said that the games were so intense, and people from all levels of society were so loud, they were just losing it, and the stadium would be packed beyond belief."

According to Vic Sison of the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF), the rivalry began even before the 1930's, when members of high society studied at what were considered the best schools in the country.

"You became a La Salle alumnus, and your children will go to school, and your grandchildren will follow," explained Sison, who himself is enshrined in the ASHOF as an outstanding football player. "The same with Ateneo."

The good-natured ribbing that followed defeat of one school at the hands of the other school pricked the pride of the members of the alta sociedad, and it became increasingly unacceptable to lose.

"The competition became very strong because these people were very close together," he adds. "They belonged to the same social strata. They mingled with one another in business and other affairs. And when it came to sports competition, it was the best against the best."

In the 1950's, things picked up a notch, as both schools used their intellect to craft cheers that played up their school's attributes, while subtlely (or often not so subtlely) degrading the other's.

"It was building competition, not only on the playing floor, on the playing field, but in the stands," Sison elaborates. "Every time Ateneo and La Salle would play each other – in whatever sport – where there was an audience represented by both schools, there would be that build-up of intense emotion."

Despite the absence of the rivalry for over a decade when Ateneo left the NCAA to join the UAAP, today's game has actually amplified the one-upmanship. Now, every Ateneo-La Salle game is on the evening news, in the morning papers, and bannering Internet headlines round the clock. After a year of waiting, Rafe Bartholomew finally got his first taste ot the blue-green war this July.

"Senators, foreign diplomats, Cabinet ministers, a smattering of Forbes's 40 richest Filipinos, movie stars and enough professional basketball players to play five-on-five. They are the elite of Philippine society, and they all gather at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City to watch the men's basketball rivalry between the universities Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle," Bartholomew wrote in the New York Times. He also characterized the teams' contrasting images: the Green Archers with their shaved heads, tattoos and attitude, and the Blue Eagles with their clean-cut, good boy image, which also fueled the animosity between them.

"I think it has exceeded expectations," Bartholomew gushed. "The noise, the crowd, everybody moving together, and at the end of the games, pumping their fists and singing the school songs. Nothing could have prepared me for it. There's really no way to explain it without experiencing it. People are so passionate, they're screaming for every pass, every tip. Not just every score. They're celebrating possessions. It's something I've never seen before anywhere."

And with the first four games having been decided by a total of just seven points, the quality and unpredictability of the games has been heightened.

"The games have become more physical, faster and more technical," Sison says. "The players are bigger, and the quality has improved. And when the quality of the games improve, the passion in the rivalry improves with it."

"It doesn't matter if one team seems weak on paper," Bartholomew reflects. "Even if one team doesn't have its usual squad. You can throw all the records out the window. If it's a La Salle-Ateneo game, you don't know what's going to happen."

And according to Sison, it's a passion that will never die out.

"When you leave an Atenean and a La Sallite in a room together, one will always think that he is number one, and the other is number two. They simply refuse to lose to each other. It's as simple as that."

Truer words were never spoken.

Archers avenge 3 losses, eliminate Eagles!

Archers make Eagles extinct, reach final

In the end, no big shots came from Chris Tiu of Ateneo. Cholo Villanueva delivered them for La Salle with a Big D to boot.

Villanueva came through with clutch baskets in the fourth quarter and shackled Tiu all game as the Archers finally put away the Eagles, 65-60, yesterday in their sudden death for the second final berth in the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the packed Araneta Coliseum.

Playing his last season as an Archer, Villanueva pumped in nine of his 13 points in the final period while neutralizing Tiu in the other end as the Taft-based squad took a step closer to making a successful return from a one-year suspension.

"It's nice to be back in the finals," said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren moments after steering the Archers to the final for the first time since losing the crown to the Far Eastern U Tams three seasons ago.

The Archers face a well-rested University of the East side on Thursday at the start of the best-of-three showdown for this year's crown.

The Dindo Pumaren-mentored Warriors swept the two-round elims to clinch the first championship berth.

The final will also mark the first time that the Pumarens will clash in a championship game.

"It has been long overdue, we're finally facing each other in the finals," said Franz, who will be appearing in the finals for the eighth time since taking over the coaching reins from Jong Uichico a decade ago.

Rico Maeirhofer sealed the emotional win with a foul shot that sent half of over 23,000 fans into frenzied celebration and the other half into tears.

Tiu, who scored a couple of crucial shots in a 76-75 Ateneo squeaker Thursday to force the rubber match for the No. 2 spot, failed to come up with even one this time as he was held to just two points in the last quarter.

Credit that to La Salle's no-nonsense defense.

The Archers, in fact, held the Eagles to just two field goals in the final period and a season-low total output.

"This is the only game in the season that we responded to the challenge by playing good defense," said Pumaren.

Their failure to control the defensive board, particularly in the closing minute, proved costly for the Eagles, last year's losing finalist to the UST Tigers but out of this year's championship despite beating the Archers thrice in a record-tying five games this year.

Ateneo swept elimination round meetings, an 80-77 win in overtime in the first round an 89-87 triumph in the second, lost to La Salle, 70-69, in a playoff for the twice-to-beat advantage before forcing a fifth and final duel with a 76-75 triumph on Tiu's endgame brilliance.

It turned out to be the last.

"I told Cholo and even TY (Tang) before the game that this will be their last game against Ateneo because they'll be graduating, and they rose to the challenge," said Pumaren.

The Archers dictated the pace early under deafening roars from both sides as they led by as many as nine points in the first quarter, 15-6.

A 14-1 blast bridging the first and second quarters turned things around for the Eagles, who wrested the lead at 20-16 as Eric Salamat took over.

Simon Atkins, a rookie out of reigning UAAP high school champion La Salle-Zobel, fired a jumper and a triple to spark a closing run that gave the Taft-based school a 29-26 upper hand at the break.

Maeirhofer, the MVP in both the Nike and Fil-Oil tournaments last summer, led the Archers' attack early with seven first half points while Tang, who turned 23 Thursday, fired six points.

The scores:

La Salle 65 – Villanueva 13, Tang 12, Maeirhofer 12, Casio 10, Malabes 5, Atkins 5, Walsham 4, Ferdinand 2, Cua 2, Mangahas 0, Co 0, Barua 0.

Ateneo 60 – Arao 14, Tiu 10, Salamat 10, Baclao 7, Al-Hussaini 6, Reyes 5, Long 4, Baldos 2, Escueta 2, Monfort 0, Laterre 0.

Quarterscores: 16-14; 29-26; 48-43; 65-60