Team Panlilio: That Championship Feeling

Jonjie Deomano, Bong Berbano & yours truly is very proud of this one

Hope springs eternal. Team Panlilio opened the 2010 ABL season last January staring at a 22 – 37 deficit after the first half in a game against Team Cheekee. It was unusual that the season started with only seven players present while the rest of the team members arriving late for the game. It was beginning to look like another long frustrating season for Team Panlilio. It looks like another season where friendships would be strengthened but no basketball wins would take place. Images of last year’s opening game came to view as it was the same scenario last year when Team Panlilio had more than 12 players on opening day but unfortunately got clobbered by its opponents not only from opening day but until the end of the season. Fortunately this year proved to be something different.

Tito Panlilio passes the torch

Team Panlilio’s team leader is Dennis Manalo who happens to be the most senior among all of us. He is a lawyer by profession and an Arnie Tuadles wannabe whose alarm clock is somewhat always 30 minutes late. Arriving just a little after the first quarter Dennis went to work immediately by talking to the team. His emotional approach on how we can improve our team defense and his encouragement on offense boosted the team’s confidence. After that emotional pep talk during halftime Team Panlilio was a different team all together – a group of hungry wolves with fire in their eyes. In every opportunity they got they devoured their enemy and eventually came up with a convincing 62 – 49 win. After the game, Dennis said “So where will we celebrate our bonfire!” Everyone smiled and told him that it’s so early to celebrate since we have been in a similar situation before and came out empty handed.

Mythical 5 member Dato Arroyo with MVP Jun Castro

There is a saying that goes like this “Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records!” After racking out three consecutive wins Team Panlilio suffered a big blow as the team’s leading scorer Peter Gonzalez suffered an ACL injury. Peter is a Triathlon champion and is the Team’s go to guy whenever points are needed. He runs the floor like a gazelle to score off fastbreaks, has a decent shooting touch and a knack to score the difficult undergoal reverse lay in when inside the paint. We lost him for the rest of the season. But instead of sulking or letting the season go down to the drains Team Panlilio took it as a challenge, talked about what to do and let fate decide our season. The result was a humbling loss to Team Adolfo – it was the first time the team felt down.

Dennis Manalo, Dato Arroyo, Bong Berbano,

Jun Castro, Dino Ponce-Enrile

The Fab Five

After that loss, Team Panlilio realized that the most important aspect of the team is to trust one another and sacrifice one’s personal interest in order for the team game to come in. We realized that by putting in together our strengths and helping each other overcome each one’s weakness, then what we have is a team that will never give up and a team that is focused on something bigger than just a decent finish this season. After that humbling defeat to Team Adolfo, Team Panlilio regrouped and this time had a better grasp of how the team can win. Dato Arroyo and Jerome Buhay took the lead during fastbreaks as Dino Ponce – Enrile would man the point, run the ball and hit the two finishers. ON the other hand Jun Castro and Buboy Go pounded the ball inside and was very effective in getting three point plays. When the big guys were doubled, Bong Berbano would shoot the lights out from three point land while Dennis Manalo would provide the points, the spunk and the motivation when needed. The other role players included Jonjie Deomano, Marvin Tiburcio, Tabs Tabora, Bong Marquez, and Johan Ramos whose defensive presence was the edge of the team during the championship game.

Game 1 Confidence

Just like reading the script of a movie that featured Larry Bird or Magic Johnson, redemption was in the eyes of Team Panlilio in the final four as it faced the only team that has beaten them – Team Adolfo. Faced with a defensive game, the dull low scoring affair went to the vengeance seeking Team Panlilio to the tune of a 43 – 39 victory. By this time the Team felt that it had its left feet inside the door as it waited for its finals opponent which happened to be the Mark Molina led Team Jalandoni. The championship as they say was just formality as the journey towards the finals was harder since the adversities faced by Team Panlilio helped them strengthen their character and helped them believe in themselves one final time. Down 30 -36 in the third quarter, Team Panlilio uncorked a paralying 15 – 2 run to take the third quarter and eventually the game as they shut down Mythical 5 member Mark Molina and the rest of Team Jalandoni to finally get their first ABL Title in ten years. The journey of then Team Sevilla which is now Team Panlilio is complete and as we hoisted our championship trophy in the air and raised our glasses during our own version of our championship bonfire we felt like we were Enrico Villanueva and Wesley Gonzalez who broke the 14 year title drought of the Blue Eagles in the UAAP 2002 season.

Final Four win over Team Adolfo

The Team Panlilio of last year that missed the final four and the Team Panlilio this year that won the championship is basically the same, the only difference is that this year everyone was willing to make sacrifices for the team’s sake. At the same time the attitude that Dennis Manalo brought is something priceless. For him the attitude of a champion came on the first day and on the first game. As a lot of coaches say “You have to want it and will it for it to happen!” Ten years is such a long time and we are very happy that we have found the way to win a title. The people then and now are the same the pieces have always been there it was just up to us to make it happen. We just hope the next title would come a little sooner in the next ten years.

How sweet it is