5-Peat Complete
When the 75th season of the UAAP
was on the homestretch, a lot of Ateneans were praying that either FEU or NU
would make it to the finals since we have beaten them convincingly the past
three years. But as fate had it, in the last season of Coach Norman Black he
was given the chance to redeem himself and avenge his only finals loss to a
team that is by nature all heart and almost similar to the team his 2006 Blue
Eagles lost to – the UST Growling Tigers.
Early in the season assistant coach Gene Afable told me that this team
is the hardest to motivate and rightfully so the loss to UST in the first round
was a good motivation for team because
finally the team has found a worthy adversary in the UAAP finals. In the last four
finals that the Blue Eagles played, the average winning margin against DLSU in
2008 was 9.5, UE in 2009 was 10, FEU in 2010 was 13 and FEU in 2011 15. Their 5
point win in game 1 was their lowest lead in a championship opener in the last
5 years.
The Avenger - Coach Norman
Vengeance was the plot that a lot of scribes
were writing about as they said Coach Norman‘s team was out to avenge their
2006 loss to the Growling Tigers. But Coach Norman was quick to answer “ none
of my players were on that team!” But looking at some subplots, some of the
players had payback on their mind on some of the Growling Tigers for one. Kiefer Ravena, Juami Tiongson and Frank Golla
were part of the 2007 team that lost to the DLSZ Junior Archers that was
bannered by UST’s ace point guard. On the other side of the fence, Justin Chua’s
senior year in the Tong Lian tournament was foiled by a then junior scorer from
Xavier who is now the King Tiger. As
they say, getting back at your tormentor is one of the most gratifying emotions
one could ever feel.
Nico Salva, Finals MVP
The Ateneo Blue Eagles rewrote
history by capturing its fifth straight UAAP Seniors basketball title by
defeating the UST Growling Tigers 65 – 62 in game 2 of the UAAP Finals at the
SMART Araneta Coliseum. The win
was a fitting send-off to the five players who have used up their eligibility
with Salva, Chua and Gonzaga being there in all five teams and to their Coach
Norman Black who will go back to the PBA to coach the Talk and Text team. With the win, Coach Norman has slewed the
ghost of 2006, the only Ateneo title run that has haunted him and for some it
was 2006 all over again the way the Tigers came back in the game but Coach
Norman is wiser this time and happier as he leaves a legacy that all Ateneans
are praying would happen again in the future.
Kiefer Ravena flies high
The other subplot in the Ateneo –
UST tussle made Kiefer Ravena, Frank Golla and Juami Tiongson pumped up to get
back at the remaining main man of that 2007 DLSZ team that beat them– Jeric Fortuna.
On the other hand Justin Chua’s grand exit in High School was foiled by the
other Jeric – Jeric Teng. As fate would have it, Juami, Kiefer and Jeric would
provide endgame heroics to their respective teams with neither one buckling and
no one giving up. Juami Tiongson was the
budding star of the 2007 Blue Eaglets then but back then he seemed to be always
out of control, this time around he paced his game well and more importantly
made shots that mattered the most like his back to back baskets in Game 1, fortunately
all of Juami's heroics came during crunch time.
Juami shows the Magic of Tiongson
After his Game 1 heroics once again Juami showed what stuff he is now made off when crunch time came. In the fourth quarter with less than 90 seconds to play the
ball rotated to Juami who was at the three point area. With the time winding
down the last four seconds, Juami faked off Kevin Ferrer and with time winding
down to 2 seconds the man they call Magic
Tiongson scored off a running shot to push the Men in Blue ahead 62 -58. After free throw exchanges, it was Kieferime
this time as Kiefer who was being guarded by Clark Bautista made a crossover
move to give hime some driving space as he surged ahead, stepped back and
elevated to score to make the count 65 -59 with 50 seconds left. Not to be out
done, Jeric Fortuna who was sizzling all night long let go a three pointer that
hit the back board and went in and just like that the Tigers were back in the
ball game 62 – 65. In the ensuing play, Juami
Tiongson was about to ice the game with two free throws but
uncharacteristically missed both to give the Tigers another chance to tie the
game. In 2007 the Junior Archers forced
overtime after a buzzer beating three
pointer, they eventually won that game. With that in mind, Tiongson made up for
his flubbed freebies by covering Fortuna well and stealing the pass by Clark
Bautista to send the Ateneo crowd into howls of victory as the Blue and white
has come alive as the drive for five is now reality.
Kiefer dagger
The drive for five would have not
been realized if not for the efforts of the 34 players who have don the Blue and
White the past five years with Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Zags Gonzaga playing
in all those five teams. Ryan Buenafe,
Juami Tiongson and Frank Golla can follow it up next year. But for now, Nico
Salva is on top of the UAAP as he has been voted as the first back to back Finals
MVP since the inception of the award in 2001.
Nico scored 30 points in game one and 8 points in game two and the
missing piece in Game 1, Greg Slaughter rebounded from a subpar game to score
15 points and hauled down 11 rebounds.
Ryan posts up
Ryan Buenafe on the other hand had to
battle tonsilitis and his body was not 100% come game time. But just like any
seasoned veteran, he played like he was about to score so that he can attract a
double team or other defenders for him to give a good pass to an open team
mate. The Buenafe pass of the day was when he took a shot and when it hit the
front rim and was about to go out of bounds, Ryan chased the ball and with him
almost going down he was able to see a cutting Greg Slaughter who got the pass
and was able to finish the play. These
intangibles are what makes the Ateneo Blue Eagles the best the past five years
and as an era ends, another window opens for the Blue and White. Next year they
will not be favored which will work to their favor but before we go into that,
lets congratulate the five peat champions once again, Ladies and Gentlemen,the
2012 UAAP Seniors Basketball Champions -
the Ateneo Blue Eagles. As i have said all season long, Ateneo, Come Alive, Feel the vibe, Glori-5!!!
The scores
ATENEO (65)
Ravena 22, Slaughter 15, Tiongson
10, Salva 8, Chua 6, Gonzaga 3, Sumalinog 1, Buenafe 0, Elorde 0, Golla 0,
UST (62)
Fortuna 20, Teng 9, Lo 8, Abdul 8, Ferrer
7, Bautista 6, Mariano 4, Vigil 0, Pe 0, Afuang 0
Quarterscores: 13 – 14, 29 – 29, 47 – 46, 65 - 62
Ateneo: Come Alive, Feel the Vibe
Glori-5!!!
