Olympians live to fight another day

Maclean - relentless Intensity

The STI College Olympians came back to life in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter as the 4 time finalists beat the Lyceum 57-55 to stay alive for another final four berth. Norman Ihalas sank an all important three pointer to cut the LSB 7 point deficit to four and the Olympian's defense went to overdrive as they eventually silenced the Sharks guns.

Olympians fight for the ball

Ihalas then scored on a three point play and Jerald Bautista scored on a drive to give the Olympians the upperhand 53-52. Macky Macabasco eventually scored on a jumper to give the Olympians their biggest lead 57-52. The Sharks then scored on a basket to move closer 55-57 but eventually ran out of time as the Olympians nailed win number 12.

Crucial basket for the Olympians

The Olympians crawled back from a 14 point halftime lead as the Sharks dictated the tempo of the game by breaking the Olympians full court press and limiting the Olympians to only 22 first half points. The Olympians found it hard to break the Sharks zone defense as their outside arsenal and slashers were not in sync.

Norman Ihalas on the drive

The third quarter saw renewed energy for the Olympians as they tightened their defense and eventually some offense came their way through fastbreaks. The Olympians cut down the 14 pt halftime deficit to eight points as the Olympians put the cuffs on JC Collado who they limited to jumpers that eventually did not go in. Dimunitive point guard Renz Cruz provided quality minutes as he forced the LSB point to offensive fouls and more often gave them a hard time settting up. The Sharks eventually got some 24 second violation calls.

Maclean on the defense

The Sharks thought they were ready to coast to the victory until the three pointer of Ihalas rejuvenated an uninspired STI Team. The win leveled the Olympians with the Sharks and are just a cinch away for a play off for the fourth spot if they win against the AMACU Titans on wednesday. Good luck to the Olympians once again.

Norman Ihalas scores

STI (57) -- Ihalas 13, Carino 12, Bautista 6, Orias 5, Sabellina 4, Dagulpo 4, Antonio 4, Macabasco 2, Cruz 1, Po 0, Reyes 0, Pascual 0, Ablaza 0, Bocalbo 0.

Lyceum (55) -- Collado 14, Labadan 8, Postrado 7, Velasco 6, Ellano 6, Baydo 5, Carey 3, Valencia 2, Bilog 2, Bote 2, Espenelli 0, Carter 0, Ignacio 0.

Quarterscores: 14-16, 22-36, 39-47, 57-55.

Blue Eagles secure twice to beat advantage

The Ateneo Blue Eagles secured the first twice to beat advantage in the 72nd UAAP after rallying to beat the Adamson Soaring Falcons 61 -52. The score actually did not show the tightness and closeness of the game as the Blue Eagles played catch up for most of the game. In the first half it was Rabah Al-Husaini and Nico Salva who carried the fight for the Blue Eagles while Eric Salamat joined hands with the big ticket in the second half.

It was another lethragic start for the Blue Eagles as the defense of the Soaringt Falcons limited the defending champions to only 10 first quarter points with four of them coming in the last minute of play. Nico Salva scored 9 points in the first half as his never say die attitude helped the Blue Eagles come back after trailing by 10 at 15-25. The Blue Eagles then narrowed the gap at the end of the quarter to 28 - 30.

It was obvious that the Blue Eagles lacked intensity in the first half. Although they are bigger than the Falcons, Adamson had 11 offensive rebounds as against only 3 for the Blue Eagles. At the same time the Blue Eagles turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and had only two free throws. That showed that they lacked the inside game that they have mastered and the slashers were unseen.

Luckily things changed in the second half as the Blue Eagles defense tightened that made the Falcons take difficult shots and eventually miss. At the same time, the Blue Eagles checked their turnovers and forced the Falcons to commit errors themselves. Eric Salamat was at the forefront of the Ateneo attack as he sank a three pointer, stole the ball for a lay up and scored after a spin move at the 15 foot line. That scoring splurge was enough as the Falcons exchanged baskets with the BLue Eagles as they matched every output of their air opponents as the quarter ended with the Hail Mary Squad finally on top 46-45.

The Blue Eagles fourth quarter defesnse remained their most potent weapon as the Ateneo shut down the Adamson offense completely. Kirk Long shadowed Adamson's top gun Leo Canuday as he gave the Top Falcon only limited space to operate and was eventually a non factor in the game. With the score tied at 51 -all, the Blue Eagles went to an 11- 1 run as the Falcons could not buy a field goal in the last 6 minutes of the game. The Eagles sank four free throws and when Long stole the ball, the distance between the two teams widened and eventually the Blue Eagles got the win. Rabah scored 19 points and collared 13 rebounds while Eric Salamat added 17 points with most of them coming in the crucial stretches of the game. The Eagles have two more games with the UP Maroons coming up next.

The scores:

ADMU 61- Al Hussaini 19, Salamat 17, Salva 9, Buenafe 7, Baclao 5, Reyes 2, Long 2, Monfront 0, Golla 0, Chua 0, Austria 0

AdU 52- Cañada 10, Nuyles 7, Canuday 7, Colina 6, Cabrera 6, Margallo 4, Camson 4, Basillio 4, Alvarez 4, Lozada 0, Galinato 0

Quarter Scores: 10-16, 28-30, 46-45, 61-52

Mr. and Ms. STI 2009 Grand Finals

George Torres of STI College Lucena

and Sarah Corpus of STI College Recto

Mr. and Ms. STI 2009

The culmination of all the events for Talent Search 2009 is the Mr and Ms STI 2009. Previously in this blog i posted pictures of the candidates for the event and the pageant that was held at enchanted kingdom proved to be the crowning glory of the George Torres of STI College Lucena and Sarah Corpus of STI College Recto. Below are pictures and highlights of the pageant that was rained out but also had a grand time when the rain stopped. It was a good thing that the roof of the stage did not disappoint.

Michael Domaoal of STI College Recto

and Beata Sunga of STI College Balayan

2nd Place

Charles Edmilao of STI College Gen. Santos and

Trixie Santos of STI College Ortigas-Cainta

3rd Place

Franz Bernardo of STI College Southwoods and

Ritchelle Javier of STI Cauayan

4th Place

Romnick Mauricio of STI College Caloocan and

Jacquelyn Merano of STI College Lucena

5th Place

STI Talent Search 2009: Hataw Sayaw

Yours truly Hosted the Hataw Sayaw with

Ms. Bikini of the World 2008 AJ Surjani

One of the most awaited events of the STI Talent Search 2009 is the fast paced Hataw Sayaw Dance Competition. Here are some of the highlights of the competition and the winners of the event. The event was hosted by yours truly and AJ Surjani from STI College Global City.

Four time Champions, Kampus Katz

combine with the STI All-Stars

The Grand Production Number

of ALL Participating Groups

Hataw Sayaw 2009 Grand National Champions

KATZ REPUBLIC of

STI College Alabang

Zero Gravity of STI College Balayan

Second Place

The STI Caloocan Intensity
Third Place

STI 26th Anniversary at Enchanted Kingdom

SIMULAN NATIN! This is a call to STIers to be proactive in everything that they do. This theme is something that helps us become more active in nation building since the 2010 elections is just around the corner. In STI, highly advocate the role of youth in nation-building. While we attest that change indeed starts from oneself, we equally regard the next step… the people’s unified effort. And together, STIers will once again become catalyst of a state’s transformation. This we start right within our STI community..

The STI 26th Anniversary Celebration is STI's way of rallying the STI students into coming together as one and imbibing this one sentiment. This year, all roads lead to the Enchanted kingdom for a one of a kind celebration for STI students. The past five years, the STI community trooped to STAR CITY to celebrate. Last year's anniversary celebration was the most the STAR CITY ever witnessed for an STI event as more than 16,000 STI Students were in hand to watch the event.

This year, everything was even bigger as 20,000 STIers brought the magic back to Enchanted Kingdom. At the same time, the T shirts sold for the event is also at an all time high as 20,000 were sold and still moving. The response was so tremendous that other contingencies were done so that STI Students would still enjoy their stay at EK even is there were so many who celerbated the event.

The only problem that comes into my mind is ...how do you top something like this. Well, for now we savor the happiness of a very successful event and hope that next year we can add on to this success. So to STIERs...SIMULAN NATIN.

Plates and Palates

The STI Tagisan ng Talino has a new competition that is simply quite pleasing to the eyes and entertaining in its small way. A lot of STI Schools are now offerring Hospitality and Restaurant Services and BS Hotel and Restaurant Managemetn courses.

As a result, STI HQ has created a comeptition to perk up the creativity of STIers. Here are some highlights from the STI Plates and Palates Competition. One of the competitions that were on hand was the Table Setting competition which is entitled ALL iN PLACE.

The Glasses look so elegant here

The placings on the table play a big role

Is this the Ibong Adarna?

Ateneo wins over UST for solo leadership

We got Long shotS!

The last time Kirk Long was hailed as the next Chris Tiu was when he sank the game winner in a game against the UST Growling Tigers three seasons ago. Unfortunately Kirk had some problems with his offense so he concentrated on defense and passed up a lot of great looks which eventually shattered his confidence. Back then in High School at Faith Academy, Kirk was the focal point of the offense of their team and everyone was so happy for him to don the blue and white until last year when he was quite smitten by the sophomore jinx.

Beam me up Scotty!

Today, the team that he pulverized with his last second shot just cant get over him as he scored 21 points as he led the fabled Ateneo Blue Eagles to an 80-70 win and solo leadership in the 72^nd UAAP Basketball Tournament. Just after the win, the UE Red Warriors shot the lights out in the big dome to score a whopping 87 -72 win over Ateneo’s co-leader, the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. This gives the Blue Eagles solo leadership with a 9-1 slate. The Eagles will meet the bottom half of the draw NU, Adamson and UP before their anticipated match against the FEU Tamaraws.

Inside Might

The high flying duo of Dylan Ababou and Khasim Mirza proved to be tough nuts to crack as both players scored heavily as the sloppy plays of the Blue Eagles and non existent defense gave the Growling Tigers a 60-58 lead going to the pay off period. That was the cue that MVP Rabah Al-Husaini needed to wake up from his slumber. AL-Husaini scored 10 points in the quarter as the Blue Eagles clamped down on the Tigers who shut down Ababou and Mirza. Both stars scored 2 and 4 points respectively in the 4^th quarter.

In the Nico of time again

If Kirk is the next Chris Tiu, then the next inside presence for the Blue Eagles is Nico Salva who scored 11 points, his fifth straight game in double figures.

ATENEO (80)

Long 21, AL-Husaini 14, Salva 11, Jai Reyes 11,Baclao 10, Salamat 7, Austria 5, Golla 1, Tiongson 0, Monfort 0, De Chavez 0, Chua 0, Buenafe 0,

UST (70)

Ababou 19, Mirza 18, Maliksi 11, Camus 8, Teng 4, Aytona 3, Afuang 3, Fortuna 2, Bautista 2, Ungria 0, Greene 0

Quarterscores: 20-17, 36 -39, 58 – 60, 80 - 70

The Return to Spiral

Same time next year! Fortunately that is what we tell each other. I remember blogging about this place last year when my good friend Atty. Baba San Jose celebrated her birthday in this breath taking one of a kind best buffet in town - SPIRAL. Now, the return is even better after creating a gameplan and eating my heart out. Just feast at the pictures of my plates.

THE FIRST PLATE

JAPANESE GALORE

THE SECOND PLATE

MEATY MEAT

THE THIRD PLATE

TEMPURA AND CHINESE FOOD

THE FOURTH PLATE

SALMON AND REPEATS

OIympians recover bearing

Some highlights from the 74 -45 win of the STI College Olympians against the Our Lady of Fatima Phoenix. The Olympians jumped the gun from the start as they played well after getting beaten by the Informatics Icons just two days ago. If these pictures can talk.

Cedrick Ablaza floats in the air for this one.

Rebound action under the Olympians goal

Cedrick Ablaza again trying to give the ball to the open man

Jen Reyes over former STI College CDO Conqueror Valdevilla.

SIMULAN NATIN ang SAYA

STI employees work hard but party harder. The new center for academic excellence was inaugurated today and after the day long event, the STI Education Services Group together with the Admin, faculty and staff of STI College Global City had a one of a kind party.

Food and drinks were all in abundance when the festivities got started. First was the great news that our dear President Nick Jacob mentioned, and the news was that even though the country is not doing well, enrollment in STI has continued to grow to 60,000 students. The goal now is to reach 100,000 in 5 years time!

This year's theme is very apt for every STIer, SIMULAN NATIN! The theme gives each and everyone a very proactive stance in making sure that STIERs are a cut above the rest. Indeed the 26th year of STI proves to be something worth remembering.

Party at the STI Academic Center today and celebrate with the rest of the network at Enchanted Kingdom next week. Extended celebration for the STI Network for STIers really know the true meaning of the word celebration.