It's been over a week ago since the University of the Philippines (UP) Men's Basketball Team won its first University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championship in 36 years. And what a season it has been. I wrote about my most favorite team in the world a few years ago when they made it to the final four. And I believe it's time for another update because they've achieved something bigger and greater.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had no UAAP games for 2 years (2020 and 2021). When things got a bit better this year, the UAAP Board finally decided to resume the basketball tournament on a bubble set-up with no spectators allowed. Boo! But because we missed UAAP basketball so much, we were willing to take it. At least we'd get to watch it on TV and we can still cheer for our teams from our homes. Fortunately, they allowed fans a few games into the first round. And our repressed family made sure to attend majority of the games (we only missed their last game of the elimination round).
Random game shots with Mercado Titos, Ate Missy, and Kuya Migo
UAAP Season 84 opened on March 26, 2022. And UP was up against the defending champions, the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles. I was taking my continuing education training that day and a blockmate and I were chatting about our team. She said she didn't want to be invested on our team yet. And I understood her. We had a new coach, Goldwin Monteverde. Yes, he was a champion coach in the high school division with the National University - Nazareth School. But we know that the collegiate division is a totally different arena. And we had a lot of new players. I believe there were only 3 holdovers from our 2019 team (Ricci Rivero, James Spencer, and Noah Webb) and the rest are either rookies or transferees. So yep, it was prudent for my friend to remain detached in the meantime.
When our team is up against Ateneo, we honestly don't have any expectations. Ateneo is such a good team with a very good coach in Tab Baldwin. They have very talented players, especially their foreign student athlete (FSA) Ange Kouame. They swept the last season and went on to win the championship. My friends and I were even joking that this was actually just a practice game for UP and the season was going to begin on their next game. And as expected, UP lost. Not by much. But we still lost. Our highly-touted Fil-Am transferee, Zav Lucero, didn't make much of an impact on his first game. Our FSA Malick Diouf who was advertised as someone who beat Kouame in another league, was not that spectacular either. The rookie we were all waiting for, Carl Tamayo, showed flashes of brilliance but he proved no match for the almost perfect Ateneo team.
Photos with the UP Women's Volleyball Team, Prince Rivero, UP Pep Squad, Isa Molde, Kathy Bersola, Andrea Brillantes, Jervy Cruz, Juan Gomez de Liano, Coach Godfrey Okumu, and Jaydee Tungcab
As the season progressed, however, our team seemed to have found whatever was needed to make them tick. We went on to win all of our first round games after that Ateneo loss. Yes, most games were cardiac, especially those against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, the Adamson Soaring Falcons, and the La Salle Green Archers. But most of our wins were really convincing. Even if the games were close, we always felt that our team could do it. Although, of course, as a UP fan for 24 years now who has seen them at their lowest of lows, I know that I should never cheer and celebrate until the final buzzer.
We did really well in the second round too, except for that loss to Adamson. Lucero was stepping up with his pesky defense and superb catching skills. Tamayo was becoming more consistent. Diouf was inconsistent but we needed his length so we can't really complain that much. We had reliable help in Rivero and University of Santo Tomas (UST) transferee CJ Cansino. We had great back up guards in Terrence Fortea and Harold Alarcon. And we had a gem in our starting point guard, La Salle transferee JD Cagulangan. Among all the UP teams I've watched, I felt that this team's point guard was the best. My heart was at peace whenever JD had the ball. I knew he'll bring it to the other side on time and he'll know who should get the ball. And if there was no one to pass the ball to, trust JD to attack or shoot from the outside to save the team.
And what really solidified my faith in this team was their defense. My husband describes it as "palitan ng mukha" or they didn't mind exchanging faces with their opponents because of their very sticky defense. When things weren't going our way offensively, it was our defense that pulled us through time and time again.
Then came our last game of the elimination round. It was against Ateneo. My husband refused to watch it live because in his own words, "we are not martyrs." He pegged it as a loss. Deep within me, however, I felt like we had a fighting chance. I'm not sure if it was because of the tenacity the team exhibited throughout the season.
We led by a lot during the first quarter. But as expected, Ateneo slowly got back and caught up with us. The double digit lead during the first quarter became 6 at the half and it even went down to 3 at the end of the third quarter. But the game remained close. Ateneo would lead by around 4 or 6 but that was it. They never pulled away. And when you're playing Ateneo, the threshold lead you should give them should be just around that much, otherwise you'll be left behind. But somehow, we won that game, by 1. And that win meant so many things - we beat Ateneo, a team that was deemed unbeatable, we stopped Ateneo from sweeping the elimination round, and there will be a traditional final four because Ateneo was not automatically assured of a finals spot. Yes, it was a cause for a celebration. But it had to be tempered. Because we might have just been lucky. And knowing Ateneo, they will definitely get back at us when we meet them again.
With his idols, the broadcast guys - Charlie Cuna, Nikko Ramos, Dyp Dypiangco, Allan Gregorio, Rado Dimalibot, Larry Fonacier, and Doreen Suaybaguio
So on to the final four. We were number 2 so we enjoyed a twice-to-beat advantage against number 3 La Salle. Round 1 game against La Salle was close. Round 2 was close towards the end too. Tamayo was very effective in defending La Salle's King Archer Justin Baltazar and that really helped. But La Salle is La Salle, known for stepping up when the need arises. And I honestly still had trauma from the 2019 twice-to-beat advantage that we wasted when UST beat us. That nightmare really came back when we lost to La Salle in game one. There goes the advantage again.
Game 2 of the final four still started out problematic. Somewhere in the fourth quarter, I was already accepting the team's fate. That it was not yet our turn to return to the finals. But with around 4 minutes left in the game, the boys did magic. Tamayo was making his shots. We were able to defend better. And we came back. And we won.
Going into the finals, I knew we were at a disadvantage again. Ateneo had a one game day of rest because they were able to win their first game in the final four. Our boys were probably tired. With the season's grueling schedule of having games every other day, I knew our players were super stretched already. And Cansino suffered an injury during the game against Ateneo. Lucero was struggling. Fortea had a bit of an injury too. Ateneo had a lot of reasons to massacre us. Similar to UP's finals appearance in 2018, I was prepared to just chill this time. Be a spectator in the Ateneo show. And just be grateful that we're back in the finals.
But the boys planned differently. Yes, Ateneo was leading. SJ Belangel was making all of his shots. But you know what? Our boys kept up with them. Ateneo had to work for every point. We were not giving them easy baskets. Diouf matched up well with Kouame. We never gave up. Especially Spencer when he made that game-tying 3 that brought us to overtime. Although we had the momentum in the OT, it was difficult to really cheer because Diouf fouled out. I honestly thought Tamayo would be clobbered by Kouame. But he wasn't. And Lucero's game finally came back. And we won against Ateneo again! Probably that previous win against them was not just out of luck?
With the team's great game against the defending champions, you can't blame us if we expected them to sweep the finals series in game 2. And for a while there, we looked like we really had a good chance of doing that. Again, we kept up and everyone had to work for their points. But due to some miscommunication, Rivero was unaware of the time left and that we were down by 4 towards the end of the game. So instead of hurrying and making a quick 3 or 2, he opted to take a walk in the park, attack, and fish for a foul. And so we lost game 2.
With Gelo Vito, Mikee Reyes, CK de Leon, Abi Lim, Diego Dario, Diony Hipolito, JJ Alejandro, Migs Gozum, Sam Corrales, and Mark Lopez
Going into game 3, I was no longer sure. I'm palpitating again just thinking about it. Haha. My husband and I thought Ateneo had the advantage. They were the defending champions. They have international tournament experience. They can withstand the pressure that a do-or-die game brings. But right from the start, the boys showed us that they were in it to win it. They led in the first quarter. They all had their game faces on. And again, we were able to keep up whenever Ateneo took the lead. Belangel was having the game of his life again. But Diouf was still doing a good job on Kouame. Although Tamayo and Lucero were not contributing that much, we had our secret weapon in Cansino, who was finally playing his first playoff game after getting injured during the elimination round. Cansino's 3-point shots kept us in the game. Especially that game-tying 3 that brought us to overtime again. OT this time was different. Ateneo led by as much as 5, I think. Gian Mamuyac made a 3. As Ateneo looked like it was pulling away, I sat silently, trying to condition myself that no, it was probably not our turn yet.
But JD Cagulangan thought differently. He took matters into his own hands during the overtime. He bravely made a 3-point buzzer beater shot when we were down by 5 to cut the lead down to 2.
But of course Ateneo was ready. Belangel, who was spectacular the entire night, tried a floater, but he missed. Kouame tried to put it back in, but he failed. Yes, it truly felt like the basketball gods were on our side this time.
Then, while Kouame was on Cagulangan, JD masterfully threaded the ball to Diouf who was able to make a dunk that tied the game. Dunking on Ateneo during the finals, on a do-or-die game, in overtime was just unbelievable!
But we were still anxious because with the game tied, it looked as if we were heading into a second overtime. I didn't think my heart could take 5 more minutes of this crazy game. Then Cagulangan, putting all his heart and soul into it, made another 3-point shot with just 0.5 seconds left, which brought UP its first championship in 36 years.
Photos taken by the official photographers, pictures with Ninang June and Tita Judy Taguiwalo, and with the championship shirt
Yes, it was magical. It was like a dream. Some people say it's destiny demolishing the Ateneo dynasty. Whatever it is, I'm just very happy for the team and the UP community. Because we all deserve this. And while I'm already feeling some sort of separation anxiety thinking about Cagulangan and our other boys leaving the team, I will allow myself to soak in the moment because we never know when it will come again. UP Fight!
