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| The 1989 RP Youth Team |
ASIAN YOUTH
19 AND UNDER TOURNAMENT
The Super
Sophomores Danny Francisco and Olsen Racela used the second semester to further
hone their skills with one of the best High School coaches in the 1980’s Coach
Ato Badolato. Coach Ato Badolato headed the team that represented the
Philippines in the Asian Youth 19 and under basketball tournament with the
Philippines hosting the games again from January 25 to February . The only
holdover from the 1986 Silver medal team was Joselito “Joey” Guanio from the UP
maroons. The others cagers that made the line-up were Olsen’s 17and under
teammates Zandro “Jun” Limpot and John Edel Cardel both with La Salle and
Victor Pablo of FEU. UAAP rising star, Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena of the UE
Warriors, High School 7’1 sensation EJ Feihl of UST together with the NCAA stars
Vergel Meneses of JRC, Robert Ruiz of Letran and Dennis Ramirez of San Beda
also made the list. Alejandro “Jojo” Lim is the lone provincial player from the
University of Visayas. The team beat Singapore, India, and Iran in the
eliminations stage then took care of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals
but their shocking loss to Japan by two points spelled their doom. That loss
led to a semifinals meeting with China that ended their quest for a gold medal.
The RP team settled for the bronz by beating Japan in the battle for third. Danny and Olsen made great improvements with Danny battling the best centers of Asia including Ma Jian who he said was strong and had a good perimeter game. Olsen on the other hand held his own against Asia's best.
THE NATIONAL STUDENTS INTERCOLLEGIATE
The
Ateneo Blue Eagles was invited as a guest team to the National Students
Intercollegiate championship and the UAAP champs obliged because the National
UAAP was scrapped. Ateneo is in Group A together with Adamson University,
Perpetual Help College, Southwestern University and Misamis Institute of
Technology. Group B has defending champion De La Salle University, 1987 titlist
San Sebastian College, University of Santo Tomas, Colegio de San Agustin
Bacolod, Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College Davao and the University of Baguio.
There was a lot of movement in the Blue Eagles camp as Coach Fritz Gaston
has resigned and Coach Chot Reyes took over for the meantime. At this
time three other players left the team for various reasons namely Alex Araneta,
Jojo Habana and Rico Santiago. Mel Basa and Gene Afable’s eligilibility were
questioned so Ateneo activated rookies Billy del Rosario and Darren Javier to
fill the void.
The Blue
Eagles breezed to the semifinals unscathed after beating Misamis Tech, Adamson,
Perpetual Help and Southwestern University in that order to arrange a
semifinals showdown with the defending champion La Salle Green Archers. Against
the Archers the Blue Eagles showed their mastery over their archrivals by beating
them 84 – 72. The defending champs looked like they were about to pull the rug
from the Blue Eagles when they went up 66 – 62. That was when Jun Reyes led the
Blue Eagles once again for a fiery 22 – 6 wind-up to dethrone the defending
champions. Unfortunately, the friendly match turned to an ugly confrontation
with 30 seconds left in the game. Green Archer veteran Rafa Dinglasan was
called for his fifth foul and rookie Billy Del Rosario extended his hand for a
handshake and unknowingly started the melee when he told Dinglasan “better luck
next time!” Dinglasan acknowledged the handshake but mistook the remark as an
insult and slapped Del Rosario. All hell broke loose as the benches cleared and
even the supporters of both crowds mixed it up which needed the help of police
to break the melee. The Blue Eagles then marched on to the finals against the
unbeaten NCAA champions the San Sebastian Stags.
NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE SEMIS: ATENEO 84 - DLSU 72
ATENEO (84) Nieto 21, Francisco 19, G. Reyes 15, Canlas 14, E. Reyes 10, Mendoza 5, Racela 0, Del Rosario 0,
LA SALLE (72) Sta. Maria 18, Pumaren 13, Bachman 12, Limpot 9, Dinglasan 7, Viaplana 4, Cardel 4, Monasterio 2, Lim 2,
Halftime 42 – all.
The Stags have a score to settle against the Blue Eagles as the recto based squad led by Paul Alvarez lost to the Blue Eagles last year by 32 points in the MMBL. The core of that team is back with NCAA MVP Eugene Quilban leading the Alvarez – less stags. The Blue Eagles started the game like a team on a mission as they led by nine points 34 – 25 early in the first half. The Stags then regrouped as Melchor Teves, Stevenson Solomon and Saturnino Garrido countered with a 23 – 14 blast to tie the UAAP champs at the end of the first half. The game was close all through out the second half and in the last one and a half minutes the Stags led the Eagles 90 -88. Jun Reyes scored on a three pointer to give the Blue Eagles the upperhand 91 – 90 and Quilban came back to score and make it 92- 91. The Stags preserved the lead when they got the ball back with good defense and wasted the time by waiving the fouls that the Blue Eagles made. Solomon eventually scored the last point off a free throw with five seconds left to give the NCAA champions the title. This is the only title that the Blue Eagles did not win in their two-year rise to the top of collegiate basketball.
NATIONAL
INTERCOLLEGIATE FINALS: SSC 93 – ATENEO 91
SAN SEBASTIAN (93) Quilban 20, Solomon 19, Garrido 17, Bade 9, Teves 9, Delos
Reyes 8, Rivera 7, Hatton 2, Castelo 2,
ATENEO (91) G. Reyes 25, Canlas 17, E. Reyes 17, Francisco 16, Nieto 12,
Racela 4, Mendoza 5, Halftime 48 - all
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