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| RP 17 and under Youth Team |
THE ASIAN YOUTH 17 and under Tournament
On December 25, 1987 the Philippine
Youth Team left for Doha to represent the country in the Asian 17 and under
Youth Championships in Qatar. The team that was formed by Coach Ato Badolato
last November from 259 players and was trimmed down to twelve and the team
captain was none other than Ateneo Blue Eagles back-up point guard Rodericko
“Olsen” Racela. Joining Olsen are emerging stars of the UAAP namely Victor
Pablo (FEU), Rodel Namuco (UE) Jose Franco Juan (San Beda) John Edel Cardel
(San Sebastian) and High school stars Zandro Limpot (UM), Segundo dela Cruz (UST)
Giovanni Manzano (San Beda) Rolando Manuel (San Beda) Paul Du (UNO), Jonas
Mariano (UE) and Allan Manese. Cardel
and Limpot would transfer later on to La Salle. The team won the first three
games against Malaysia 102- 77, India 86 – 77, Sri Lanka 105 – 36 and lost to
the host team Qatar 69 -65. The RP Team
then went on to the semifinals beating Taiwan 79- 74 and lost to the Qataris in
the finals 85 – 72. Cardel was the team’s leading scorer while Racela averaged
a respectable 8.6 ppg in leading the team to a silver finish. There were rumors
that the Qatar team were mostly overaged players that the Philippine delegation
did not protest. Nevertheless, like Jun Reyes, the Blue Eagles are definitely
set at the point guard position in years to come.
REUNION OF
CHAMPIONS GAME
Since
the emergence of the UAAP as the new glamour league of the Philippines, the
NCAA and the UAAP scheduled an exhibition game to determine what team is really the
best out there. The NCAA Champions Letran Knights took on the UAAP Champions –
Ateneo Blue Eagles in a match dubbed as “reunion of champions” wherein former
Knights and Eagles played in the alumni game at the ULTRA in Pasig City.
Herminio Perete, Freddie Webb and Dave Regullano led the Old Knights over the
Bald Eagles who were led by Boysie Henares and Marte Samson and Joy Cleofas.
The final score 87 – 70. In the penultimate match the Blue Eagles opened
the game by bombarding the Knights with an avalanche of points in the first
three minutes as they went ahead 14 – 0 at the start of the game. It took another
13 seconds after three minutes before the Knight’s center Jerry Ruiz scored a
basket. The Knights then went to work to cut the lead of the Blue Eagles as
their old reliable scorers, Dong Libed, Arthur Ayson and Robert Ruiz punctured the hoops to come to within six
at the half 46 – 40. In the second half the Blue Eagles started to
bombard the Knights again as Jun Reyes, Seph Canlas and Alex Araneta combined
to give the Blue Eagles a fifteen point lead 77 – 62. The Knights came back
once again to cut the lead to five
88 – 83 but as the game went to the last four minutes the Blue Eagles showed
who is the best collegiate team in the country by burying the NCAA champions
107 – 92.
EXHIBITION GAME ATENEO 107 vs. LETRAN 92
ATENEO (107) E. Reyes 20, G. Reyes 18, Gayoso 17,
Canlas 17, Araneta 14, Nieto 13, Basa 4, Chuatico 2, Racela 0,
LETRAN (92) Ayson 20, J. Ruiz 20, David 16, Libed 12,
R. Ruiz 12, Santos 4, Bolabola 3, Cubacub 0, Halftime 46 - 40
METRO MANILA BASKETBALL LEAGUE
The
second semester saw the Blue Eagles join two more leagues and one of them is
the league in which they were the 1st runner-up last year – the
Metro Manila Basketball League (MMBL). The year before they lost to
the FEU Tamaraws, this year they beat all the teams in the championship round
convincingly. The Blue Eagles beat the FEU Tamaraws 105-85, National University
92- 75, PSBA 107 – 87, La Salle 92-83, PUP 90 – 81, San Sebastian by 32 points
118 -87 and theirfinal games against UP 89 – 78 for a sweep and their first
MMBL title.
Important
game boxscores:
GAME 1: ATENEO 105 vs. FEU 85
ATENEO (105) Gayoso 31, G. Reyes 22, Basa 15,, Chuatico
26, Nieto 11, E. Reyes 11, Canlas 9, Araneta 6, Racela 0, Mendoza 0,
FEU (85) Esplana 20, Cruz 19, Pablo 16, De Guzman 14, Tanuan
12, Burden 2, Postanes 2, Carodan 0, Halftime 51 - 40
GAME 2: ATENEO 92 vs. NU 75
ATENEO (94) Nieto 16, E. Reyes 12, Gayoso 18, Francisco 11, G.
Reyes 9, Araneta 6, Basa 6, Chuatico 4, Racela 3, Morales 2, Jeongco
0, Mendoza 0,
NU (85) Matias 23, Artificio 19, Bautista 13, Rey 10, Lazo 6, Tan 6,
Ferrer 4, Divino 2, Lescano2, Adadas 0, Halftime: 50 - 36
GAME 3: ATENEO 107 vs. PSBA 87
GAME 4: ATENEO 92 vs. LA SALLE 83
ATENEO (92) Nieto 22, Basa 19, G. Reyes 11, Araneta 6,
Canlas 4, Gayoso 3, Mendoza 2,
DE LA SALLE (83) Sta. Maria 22,
Pumaren 20, Viaplana 19, Bachman 9, Abanilla 5, Afable 4, Monasterio 4, Favis
0, del Rosario 0, Halftime 44-36
GAME 5: ATENEO 90 vs. PUP 81
GAME 6: ATENEO 118 vs. SSC 87
ATENEO (118) Nieto 24, Chuatico 22, Gayoso 20, G. Reyes 15, Canlas
14, Basa 12, Araneta 9, Racela 2,
SAN SEBASTIAN (87) Alvarez 16, Garrido
16, Solomon 13, Rivera 12, Quilban 9, Bade 9, Delos Reyes 7, Adlawan 2, Cardel
2, Halftime 59 - 45
GAME 7: ATENEO 89 vs. UP 78
ATENEO (89) Gayoso 28, G. Reyes 17, E. Reyes 13, Nieto
9, Araneta 9, Canlas 8, Chuatico 5, Basa 0, Racela 0,
UP (78) Cruz 17, Rodriguez 15, Vergara 8, Manlulo 8,
Santos 7, Noriega 6, Somera 6, Mendoza 5, Clemente 4, Pineda 2, Arroyo
0, Halftime: 36 - 34
NATIONAL UAAP
As a
result of their monumental win in the UAAP Men’s Basketball tournament last
October, the Blue Eagles represented Metro Manila to the 11th National
UAAP tournament that was held in Davao city. The teams that entered the
basketball competition were University of Baguio representing North Luzon,
Manuel Enverga College of South Luzon, Southwestern University of Visayas,
Xavier University of North Mindanao, Ateneo de Davao of southern
Mindanao, and the host team University of Mindanao. The Blue Eagles set up a
championship match with the South Western University Cobras who were no
pushovers with their starting five of the 6’0 Calvin Tuadles, 6’0 Roberto
Jabar, 6’3 Primitivo Mutia, point guard Mark Anthony Tallo and Danny
Arango . Although Visayan teams were belittled back then, this team is a
powerhouse considering the fact that four of them eventually made it to the PBA
– Tuadles (Shell), Jabar (7-UP), Tallo (7-UP), Mutia (Shell).
The Blue
Eagles trailed the South Western Cobras for most part of the match, even
falling back by as many as 10 points at 75 – 85. Then the veterans of the Blue
Eagles went to work as JV Gayoso, Jun Reyes and Nonoy Chuatico combined to drop
a 20 – 10 bomb to tie the count 95 – all with barely a minute to play. As the
game came to a close, SWU guard Calvin Tuadles drove in to score and put the
Cobras on top 97 – 95 with five seconds remaining in the game. Just when the
Cebuanos were about to erupt and celebrate a win, JV Gayoso inbounded the ball
quickly and gave the ball to Jun Reyes who spotted Nonoy Chuatico darting to the right wing all alone and got him the ball. Dribbling on the verge of defeat, the former NOPSSCEA
MVP took a step backward to the three- point arc and flipped his fourth triple
for the night that hit nothing but net to give the Blue Eagles the title. It
was a fitting end to the career of Chuatico who entered as a champion and left
the Blue Eagles with something to remember him by – his signature three point
shot to win the title.
BOXSCORES:
Ateneo (98) Gayoso 27, Chuatico 23, Nieto 13, E. Reyes
12, Canlas 9, G. Reyes 6, Araneta 6, Basa 2, Racela 0,
SWU (97) Arango 26, Tuadles 22, Tallo 22, Atay 11, Carbajal 8, Jabar
4, Mutya 4,
NEXT BLOG: 1988 UAAPSEASON PREVIEW
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