THE 1988 UAAP SEASON - FIRST ROUND

THE PRESEASON

After the 1987 UAAP season the Blue Eagles were now ready to defend their title.  This time another champion coach comes to fold as former Blue Eagle and PBA veteran Matthew “Fritz” Gaston will be the new coach as he replaces Cris Calilan.  Last season DLSU Coach Derrick Pumaren said that Ateneo embarked on a superb conditioning program that played a vital role in the Blue Eagles title run. With the help of businessman Ernest Escaler, the Blue Eagles had their off-season training in Tagaytay and in Batangas where their conditioning was challenged and their competitive spirit at a high. In Tagaytay the team went jogging on a very steep hill that they call cardiac hill. In Batangas, the team were divided into groups of three and their order for the day was rowing. The conditioning program helped improve their lower body while rowing in Batangas helped improve their upper body strength. At the same time, the fun and excitement doesn’t end there because in the evening they will play charades and the team that loses will do extra the day after. The spirit of competitiveness has many faces and this team’s drive for excellence is so overwhelming.  There were two notable preseason games that the Blue Eagles had one against the Egyptian National team and another one against Coach Fritz Gaston’s 1976 NCAA Champion team with Steve Watson. The Blue Eagles beat the 1976 champions and the exhibition game showed that the team is ready for some roughhousing if ever.  The Egypt National team were already preparing for the 1988 Olympics in which they came out last. Nevertheless, their team had a seven footer, and a couple of players who are 6’8 and this team represented the African continent.  The Blue Eagles did not win but held their ground, was never intimidated by their much bigger and older opponents  and lost by only a couple of points. This game meant the Eagles are ready to defend their crown.  The season preview of the Blue Eagles was that they were going to repeat. Imagine, coming off one of their best seasons and losing only two players to graduation.  Nonoy Chuatico and Haj Jeongco have already used up their eligibility and replacing them are 6’4 forward- center Rico Santiago who came up from the Blue Eaglets and the ever dependable Gene Afable who took a one year leave. Twelve players return from last year’s champion team including the core of the team, Jun Reyes, JV Gayoso, Eric Reyes, Joseph Canlas, Jet Nieto, Alex Araneta, Mel Basa, Danny Francisco, Albert Mendoza, Raymund Morales, Jojo Habana and Olsen Racela. Since Fritz Gaston is now at the helm the Blue Eagles will have defense as the centerpiece of their title defense to complement the offensive firepower the Blue Eagles have. At the same time a lot of people were saying that out to crowd the Blue Eagles at the top will be their arch-nemesis the De La Salle Green Archers which they beat nine out of the ten times the two teams have met in the UAAP and outside the UAAP.

 

THE 1988 SEASON- FIRST ROUND

The 51^st UAAP Men’s Basketball tournament opened on July 16, 1988 as defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles begin their title defense against the team they beat in last year’s finals, the University of the East Warriors. The opening was held at the much bigger Araneta Coliseum and the Blue and white believers came to occupy a big chunk of the venue.  Feeling the sting of their finals meltdown last year and barely missing their prized center who graduated, the Warriors unveiled a new star in Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena who scored 10 points to lead the Recto based squad to an early 26 – 18 in the first half. The Blue Eagles then countered with JV Gayoso and Seph Canlas as the Blue Eagles caught up with the Warriors to lead the half 40 – 39. At the start of the second half the Blue Eagles went to work and showed why they were favored to repeat as they erected a fifteen-point lead 63 – 48 and everyone thought that it was going to be an opening day massacre. The Warriors then came back as Ravena rattled the ring by scoring off three pointers and slithering thru the basket and with 2:35 left in the game Coach Fritz Gaston called his first time out in the second half as the Warriors equalized 71- all.  The Blue Eagles then scored four straight points as Jun Reyes assisted a cutting Seph Canlas and Danny Francisco got the rebound off a Vilmer Banares miss to set up a Jun Reyes jumper that put the Eagles on top 75 – 71. Ravena then scored from under the basket and the last minute and twenty seconds saw a tapestry of errors which is usually commonplace in tournament openings that eventually led to an ugly Blue Eagle win.  Better than last year’s meltdown when they lost to the Maroons after leading by eleven. JV Gayoso and Jet Nieto led the Blue Eagles with 14 points apiece while Ravena scored 27 points.

GAME 1: ATENEO 75 UE 73

FEU 104-UST 97, UP 110-AdU 89, DLSU 102-NU 67

ATENEO (75) Gayoso 14, Nieto 14, Francisco 10, Canlas 9, G. Reyes 8, Racela 6, E. Reyes 6, Basa 4, Afable 2, Mendoza 2, Santiago 0,

UE (73) Ravena 27, Ve. Villarias 12, Zamar 10, Magsalin 7, Banares 6. Vic Villarias 6, Mariquit 5, Longalong 0, Hojilla 0, Ortiz 0, delos Santos 0, Namuco 0, Halftime:  40-39 

TWO MORE WINS BY THE EAGLES

The next game saw the Blue Eagles sputter once again against another familiar foe – the Adamson Falcons. This year the Falcons have added 1986 RP Youth campaigner Romulo Orillosa to their roster and together with Nandy Garcia, Jethro Doromal, Joven Banez and Teddy Naluz kept the game close until the final three minutes. Danny Francisco this time asserted his might inside the paint as he scored on eight straight points that put the Eagles up 82 – 74 with just 45 seconds to go. The Eagles went on to thwart the last ditch effort of the Falcons to beat them 84 – 81. Danny Francisco topscored with 18 points, Eric and Jun reyes had 17 and 12 respectively while Sep canlas and Jet Nieto added 10 points apiece.  Just like the previous year, the Blue Eagles started slow with their first two games and needed a boost to let loose their unforgiving offense and the game saw the Blue Eagles massacre the National University Bulldogs 106 – 58.  `That precision win enabled the Blue Eagles to clean their barrels and eventually come out with all their guns blazing in their game against another title favorite team of the league, the UP Maroons. 

GAME 2: ATENEO 84 vs ADAMSON 81

FEU 78-DLSU 74, UST90- NU 87, UP 99-UE 81

ATENEO (84) Francisco 18, E. Reyes 17, G. Reyes 12, Canlas 10, Nieto 10, Racela 7, Mendoza 4, Habana 3 , Basa 2, Santiago 1, Afable 0,

ADAMSON (81) Orillosa 15, Garcia 14, Banez 14, Doromal 12, Naluz 10, Valdez 6, yao 2, Ablaza 1Francisco 0, Cruz 0 HT43-41

ATENEO,UP, FEU 2-0, UST, DLSU 1-1, NU, UE, ADU -0-2

G3: ATENEO vs NU 106-72

UP 89-UST 74 DLSU 84-UE 69 ADU 102-FEU 93

ATENEO (106) G. Reyes 26, Nieto 20, Basa 19, Canlas 8, Francisco 7, E. Reyes 7, Racela 7, Mendoza 4, Santiago 4, Morales 4, Afable 0,  Habana 0,

NU (72) Bautista 14, Rey 14, Balotro 9, Lascano 6, Wilson 4, Tan 4, Edade 4, Morales 2, Bolado 2, Artificio 0, ht57-32

ATENEO,UP, 3-0, FEU  , DLSU 2 -1, AdU, UST  1-2 NU, UE, -0 - 3

MASSACRE AT RIZAL

The Blue Eagles started the game with unending hustle on defense and a superb running game on offense and by the time the first half ended the Blue Eagles were up 49 – 31 and the Maroons did not know what hit them.  The Maroons managed to cut the deficit to 11 points 40 – 51 behind a 9-2 start of the second half, but they were not able to sustain their offense and the men in Blue and White just kept on coming and the result was an 88 – 58 murder of the Maroons. Jet Nieto and Jun Reyes led the onslaught by scoring 23 and 18 pooints respectively while Olsen Racela had 15 points and JV Gayoso added 11 as the Eagles limited Benjie Paras to 15 points after averaging 23 points in his first three games. The win made the Blue Eagles the only undefeated team and were up 4 – 0 with UP and DLSU tied at 3 – 1.  After that more than convincing win against the maroons the Blue Eagles went to town by scoring two more convincing wins. Their next victim was the team that beat them in the first round last year- the UST Glowing Goldies. The combined offensive spurts of JV Gayoso (21 pts) ,  Jet Nieto (20 pts), Danny Francisco (18 pts), Jun Reyes (11 pts) and Eric Reyes (10 pts) were no match for the undermanned UST Glowing Goldies as the Eagles took the fight to the Espana squad and prevailed with no east 94 – 87.  Their next victims were the FEU Tamaraws and the Eagles were very eager to beat the team that has beaten a lot of Blue Eagle teams in the past. The team from Katipunan were in total control of the game as the troika of JV Gayoso, Jet Nieto and Jun Reyes were unstoppable as the three scored 25, 22, and 20 points respectively and were not to be denied their sixth straight win with this 106 – 97 beating of the team from Morayta.

GAME 4: ATENEO 88 vs UP 58

DLSU 71-UST66, ADU 102 –NU 94,UE 74 – FEU 73

ATENEO (88) Nieto 23. G. Reyes 18, Racela 15, Gayoso 11, Francisco 7, Canlas 6, E. Reyes 4, Mendoza 2, Araneta 2, Afable 0,

UP (58) Guanio 16, Paras 15, Vergara 7, Manlulo 6, Cruz 6, Marata 5, DyReyes 2, Pineda 1, Mendoza 0, manuel 0, Santos 0, Arroyo 0, Halftime: 49-31

DLSU 71-UST 66, Adamson 102 – NU 94, UE 74 FEU 73

GAME 5: ATENEO vs UST 94-87

DLSU 77-UP 75, FEU 99- NU 89, dU 78-UE 76

ATENEO (94)  Gayoso 21, Nieto 20, Francisco 18, G. Reyes 11, E. Reyes 10, Racela 8, Canlas 6, Mendoza 0, Santiago 0, Morales 0,

UST (87) Babilonia 32, Tomacruz 14, Sichon 12, Salvador 11, Santos 7, Mercadillo 5, Jose 4, Latoreno 2, HT 51-42

ATENEO, 5-0, DLSU 4-1 FEU, UP, 3 -2, AdU 3-2, UST, UE  1-4 NU, 0 - 5

GAME 6: ATENEO 94  vs FEU 87

UE 100-UST 89, DLSU 93-AdU 81, UP  92- NU 90

ATENEO (106)  Gayoso 21, Nieto 20, Francisco 18, G. Reyes 11, E. Reyes 10, Racela 8, Canlas 6, Mendoza 0, Santiago 0, Morales 0,

FEU (97) Postanes 21, de Guzman 21, Cruz 17, Tiu 15, Latoreno 9, Pablo 7, Flores 5, Codinera 2, Burden 0, HT 50-44

ADMU(6-0) DLSU(5-1) UP(4-2) FEU, AdU (3-3) UE(2-4),UST(1-5) NU(0- 6)

THE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW 1.0

The Blue Eagles have racked up six wins and twenty straight if you count the fourteen from last year and are favored to give their next opponents a royal beating – the De La Salle Green Archers. The team from Taft have been making a lot of noise since day 1 and were poised to crowd the defending champions at the top since their team is more matured at this point and they recruited well with John Edel Cardel, George Peralta, Jonas Mariano, Lincoln Lim and Jun Limpot to add more fire to their team. People packed the Rizal Memorial coliseum by mid-afternoon and traffic along Taft avenue and Vito Cruz was at a standstill while the scalpers were having a field day.   The Ateneo vs. De La Salle first round encounter was the battle of the National UAAP Champion and the National Inter-Collegiate champion and when the ball was tossed at the center court the Rizal Coliseum was ready to explode.  The Green Archers arrows where sharp at the start of the game as National Team point guard Dindo Pumaren connived with steady Teddy Monasterio and new recruit Lincoln Lim to grab a 20 – 12 lead in the early goings of the first half. The Blue Eagles were caught flat-footed and their offense had a hard time starting as they played catch up against the Green Archers and when Jet Nieto’s offense started to hum, the team from Katipunan cut the deficit at the halftime break 37 – 32. The Blue Eagles worked overtime mostly through Jet Nieto’s timely hits as they finally equalized the score 53 – all with less than 10 minutes to play.  This time it was Joey Sta. Maria and rookie John Edel Cardel combining to give the Green Archers much more breathing room they needed come crunch time. The Green Archers pounded the Blue Eagles with balanced scoring and good defense and by the time the last two minutes came the team from Taft was comfortably ahead by seven points 78 – 71. The last ditch effort by the men in blue came short as the men in green this time came out victorious and the La Salle supporters that occupied more than 70% of the coliseum were jubilant of their first victory against the Blue Eagles in the UAAP 78 – 76. The first round ended with both Ateneo and La Salle having similar slates of six wins and one loss.

 

GAME 7: ATENEO vs DLSU 76-78

AdU 112-UST 110, NU 90-UE 89, UP 95-FEU 91.

LA SALLE (78) Pumaren 19, sta. Maria 15, Cardel 10, Peralta 9, Bachman 7, Monasterio 6, Lim 6, Mariano 4, Del Rosario 2, Viaplana 0,

ATENEO (76) Nieto 25,   Francisco 12, Gayoso 8,  G. Reyes 8, E. Reyes 8, Racela 6, Canlas 5, Araneta 4, Mendoza 0,

Halftime 37-32

ADMU, DLSU 6-1, UP 5-2, AdU 4-3,FEU 3-4, UE 2-5, UST, NU 1-6,

TROUBLE AT THE EAGLE’S NEST

After the heartbreaking loss to the Green Archers, there was some disturbing news that until now continues to haunt the 1988 team. Trouble emanated from the fact that JV Gayoso played poorly in the game against La Salle. Prior to that game, JV averaged 18 points per game and even had 25 against FEU in their previous game, but against La Salle he only had eight points and even missed a lay-up wherein he was all alone.  Now people were putting things together and were saying that since JV played for La Salle for one year that there was more to it than him having a bad game. Noting that the Blue Eagles lost by two points those two points from his missed lay-up mattered and the Ateneo community was hurt with a lot of fake  news going on.  Sometimes things get out of hand coming off a loss that not only hurt the team but the community as well. Losing to La Salle then was unheard of and there has to be someone to blame and everyone's accusing finger turned to JV. I asked other people in the team about it and all I told was that the team met about this, were affected by the news and there was a big misunderstanding on that dubious accusation. I was told then that it was a team concern and will be addressed at the proper time. Since I was friends with most of the team members I left if like that and respected their decision. That is a matter that the team members will address themselves. Note: I did not dig any deeper since the purpose of this blog is to remember the good things of that era and open wounds. 

NEXT BLOG ENTRY: THE 1988 UAAP SEASON - SECOND ROUND

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