Halftime Fun time

"Blue Eagle the KING!!!"

I got a text message from Ateneo head of Alumni Affairs Jun Dalandan if I can be part of the Blue Babble Alumni who can perform during the halftime of the Ateneo vs. San Beda game for the opening of the Filoil pre season tournament. Initially I declined and told Jun that my knees are swollen and that I would find it hard to bend and run around the court. Also, I wanted to enjoy and savor the moment of watching the epic battle of the two champion teams.

Its your chance to Cheer

After a few minutes I saw the email forwarded through our ASSOC Yahoo groups by Ida Avila-Solis, who is the sister of an ASSOC Alumni who is similarly asking for Blue Babble Alumni to join the fun. It was at that point that I received another text message from Jun to reconsider. I then said, for the love of the Ateneo, swollen knees and all, lets get it on. Former Blue Babble head Joey Guillermo who is the older brother of a batch mate and Fil-Oil flying V league chairman then called me up to make sure I will be there.

A different way to end the Three fights

I arrived at the Arena in San Juan a little over 12 noon and met up with Jeff Tagle who is from a recent Blue Babble batch from the previous decade and Richard Agbayani who is a batch mate of Joey. Two other former babble Alumni would join us to the cheers of Fabilioh, Three FIghts and Blue Eagle spelling. I must admit I was quite hesitant to do the halftime gig but when I entered the Arena and saw that most of the Ateneo gallery are people I know then I was already eager to start.

"Fight Fight Blue & White Go Go Ateneo Sis Boom Bah"

When halftime came we told the San Beda Cheerleaders and Cheerdancers to go ahead with their cheers. Some Alumni of the Ateneo band were also there to lend a hand as they borrowed the drums of the De La Salle Band. When I heard the Go Ateneo cheer I got pumped up and my knees began to to hold as I walked to the center court. We then cheered our hearts out and the movements were quite reserved but funny since we could not bend anymore. It was cheering Alumni style. The best thing there was the thunderous response we got from the Ateneo community.

Point your fingers!!!

This just shows that whenever there is an Ateneo crowd, leading them to cheers will never be a problem. Now I can't wait to go back on the floor and hog the limelight once again since they were telling me that the Ateneo vs. DLSU game on June 4 will be another Halftime Alumni Affair. Well, thats a month and a half from now and I just hope that the Ateneo will continue its winning ways.

Thanks to Ken Ti for capturing this great moment

Battle of the Champs: Its the UAAP over the NCAA

Battle of the top rookies,

Keifer is head and shoulders above Baser

Just a few days ago news came out that UAAP season 73 finals MVP Ryan Buenafe won’t be donning the Blue and White this season together with Art dela Cruz, Chris de Chavez and Jeric Estrada who all had academic problems, but when the FIloil Tournament opened, all hesitations for a four-peat were written off because of the replacements the Blue Eagles got for them. If 2008 was a good recruiting year for the Ateneo Blue Eagles then this year might be a cut above the rest as the country’s phenomenal High school standout and National Team’s resident center are playing for the same team. In their first outing together Keifer Ravena and Greg Slaughter combined for 51 points to compliment veteran Nico Salva’s 21 point explosion and give the Ateneo Blue Eagles bragging rights over last year’s NCAA Champion San Beda College as the Blue Eagles beat the Red Lions 89 – 86 in the 2011 Fil-Oil Flying V Pre-season Hanes Premiere Cup.

the fadest fade away

The Red Lions new 6 – 9 African center was unveiled in this game as Ola Adeogun topscored with 30 points including an up and under dunk shot that got the red Lions supporters jumping up and down. Unfortunately for them, the dunk that mattered the most was the alley-hoop dunk of Greg Slaughter from Keifer Ravena that pushed the Blue Eagles comfortably ahead 87- 82 with 26 second left in the game. Slaughter scored 26 points and had 2 blocks but only had 2 rebounds. Adeogun surprised a lot of viewers with his athleticism and jumping ability. This will surely mean that the Red Lions will be contenders for another five years!

Nico from Kiefer

The Red Lions started hot with Adeogun scoring at will in the first quarter. The Blue Eagles started with Eman Monfort, Kirk Long, Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Frank Golla but had a hard time containing Adeogun and had most of the Red team shooters scorching the nets. After 5 minutes, in came Ravena and Slaughter and the complexion of the game quickly changed and just what they say " all hell broke loose!". The Blue Eagles defended the Red Lions well and eventually got their game going with Salva joining the two rookies in the scoring parade. Ravena eventually finished the first half with his patented fade away jumper to give the Blue Eagles the upper hand 41-39 come halftime.

High in the sky

He ran, he got the rebounds, he stole, he passed the ball. Those are the other things that the Phenom brings to the court as his scoring is complemented by his all-around game. It’s just like a movie written, directed and starred in by Kiefer Ravena as he singlehandedly administered the breakaway of the Blue Eagles from the Red brigade. On the defensive end, Zags Gonzaga proved to be another defensive demon as he forced the opponent’s point guards to bleed their way to the frontcourt and had numerous offensive rebounds as well. His all out never say die attitude rubbed off on the Blue Eagles as they closed the third quarter comfortably ahead 60 -49.

Slaughter on the fastbreak

Just when the Blue Eagles were about to wrap the game up and blow the Red Lions into oblivion, Red Lion guard Garvo Lanete scored and then rifled off a three pointer that was added by another three pointer by back-up point guard Carmelo Lim and in a wink of an eye the score was back to square with the game tied 74 – all with less than four minutes left in the ball game. It was at this juncture that the two rookies conspired once again to close out the game as the Keifer Ravena show was unveiled with the Phenom draining successive fade away shots that climaxed with that alley-hoop dunk to Slaughter. The funny thing was that the game looked like it was the third game of the championship well in fact it was only the first game of the pre-season. This game is a warning to all UAAP and NCAA teams with both champs saying "If you cannot top that then its Four for the Eagles and back to back for the Lions!" See you in the games.

Marque Match up

6'11 Slaughter and 6'9 Adeogun

The scores:

Ateneo de Manila (90)

Slaughter 26, Ravena 25, Salva 21, Gonzaga 7, Erram 5, Long 3, Golla 2, Austria 1, Monfort 0, Chua 0.

San Beda College (87)

Adeogun 30, Lanete 15, Lim 10, A. Semerad 8, Marcelo 6, Daniel 5, Amer 4, J. Pascual 4, de la Rosa 3, Pontejos 2, Villahermosa 0, Caram 0, K. Pascual 0.

Quarter scoring: 18-18, 41-39, 68-58, 90-87

Zags Gonzaga is my bet for

most improved player

UAAP Champ beat NCAA Champ in FilOil

Battle of the top rookies,

Keifer is head and shoulders above Baser

Just a few days ago news came out that finals MVP Ryan Buenafe won’t be donning the Blue and White this season together with Art dela Cruz, Chris de Chavez and Jeric Estrada who all had academic problems, but when the FIloil Tournament opened, all hesitations for a four-peat were written off. If 2008 was a good recruiting year for the Ateneo Blue Eagles then this year might be a cut above the rest as the country’s phenomenal High school standout and National Team’s resident center are playing for the same team. In their first outing together Keifer Ravena and Greg Slaughter combined for 51 points to compliment veteran Nico Salva’s 21 point explosion and give the Ateneo Blue Eagles bragging rights over last year’s NCAA Champion San Beda College as the Blue Eagles beat the Red Lions 89 – 86.

the fadest fade away

The Red Lions new 6 – 9 African center was unveiled in this game as Ola Adeogun topscored with 30 points including an up and under dunk shot that got the red Lions supporters jumping up and down. Unfortunately for them, the dunk that mattered the most was the alley-hoop dunk of Greg Slaughter from Keifer Ravena that pushed the Blue Eagles comfortably ahead 87- 82 with 26 second left in the game. Slaughter scored 26 points and had 2 blocks but only had 2 rebounds. Adeogun surprised a lot of viewers with his athleticism and jumping ability. This will surely mean that the Red Lions will be contenders for another five years!

Nico from Kiefer

The Red Lions started hot with Adeogun scoring at will in the first quarter. The Blue Eagles started with Eman Monfort, Kirk Long, Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Frank Golla but had a hard time containing Adeogun and had most of the Red team shooters scorching the nets. After 5 minutes, in came Ravena and Slaughter and the complexion of the game quickly changed. The Blue Eagles defended the Red Lions well and eventually got their game going with Salva joining the two rookies in the scoring parade. Ravena eventually finished the first half with his patented fade away jumper to give the Blue Eagles the upper hand 41-39 come halftime.

High in the sky

He ran, he got the rebounds, he stole he passed the ball and he scored. It’s just like a movie written, directed and starred in by Kiefer Ravena as he singlehandedly administered the breakaway of the Blue Eagles from the Red brigade. On the defensive end, Zags Gonzaga proved to be another defensive demon as he forced the opponent’s point guards to bleed their way to the frontcourt and had numerous offensive rebounds as well. His all out never say die attitude rubbed off on the Blue Eagles as they closed the third quarter comfortably ahead 60 -49.

Slaughter on the fastbreak

Just when the Blue Eagles were about to wrap the game up, Garvo Lanete scored and then rifled off a three pointer that was added by another three pointer by back-up point guard Carmelo Lim and in a wink of an eye the score was back to square with the game tied 74 – all. It was at this juncture that the two rookies conspired once again to close out the game as the Keifer Ravena show was unveiled with the Phenom draining successive fade away shots that climaxed with that alley-hoop dunk to Slaughter. The funny thing was that the game looked like it was the third game of the championship well in fact it was only the first game of the pre-season.

Marque Match up

6'11 Slaughter and 6'9 Adeogun

The scores:

Ateneo de Manila (90)

Slaughter 26, Ravena 25, Salva 21, Gonzaga 7, Erram 5, Long 3, Golla 2, Austria 1, Monfort 0, Chua 0.

San Beda College (87)

Adeogun 30, Lanete 15, Lim 10, A. Semerad 8, Marcelo 6, Daniel 5, Amer 4, J. Pascual 4, de la Rosa 3, Pontejos 2, Villahermosa 0, Caram 0, K. Pascual 0.

Quarter scoring: 18-18, 41-39, 68-58, 90-87

Zags Gonzaga is my bet for

most improved player

Olympians beat Ateneo Team B in FMC

Sabellina shows what he does best

PBA Developmental league player Maclean Sabellina stomped his class over a hapless Ateneo Team B as he led the STI College Olympians to a convincing 69 – 54 victory. Sabellina was the big factor in this game as he was unstoppable underneath the basket and went on to score a game high 19 points which was highlighted by two thunderous dunks in the third quarter. Ateneo B’s resident superstar Jomar Adornado started things early for the Blue Eagle’s second team which is now coached by former Blue Eagle Yuri Escueta. The Olympians were having a hard time scoring and fell behind 0 – 6. Ateneo B showed great man to man defense as they forced the Olympians to numerous misses and went on to end the first quarter on top 19-14.

The Big three

The Olympians regrouped as Sabellina teamed up with skipper Jerald Bautista and Cameroonian recruit Noel Ohandja to level up by the end of the second quarter and surge ahead by the third quarter. The Olympians played good defense and attacked the pressure defense of the Blue and White with superb passing to end the quarter on top 54 -46. It was in this quarter that Sabellina ran the break and was given a pass by RK Morales which he translated into a one handed dunk. Three plays after Sabellina cut to the basket from the top of the key, was given another excellent pass which he translated into an emphatic dunk that gave resulted in a thunderous applause from the bleachers.

Former Juniors campaigners now in the Seniors Team

Tonichi Saldana and Ivan Moreno

Hulking center Vince Fran tried to get the Ateneans back by backing down on his man but could not get much help from his visibly tired team mates. The Ateneo team eventually collapsed while the Olympians took advantage and built a gap to close the game comfortably ahead by 15 points. It was the second time the Olympians beat Ateneo’s team B, the last time was when Jobe Nkemakolam was still manning the center slot. Another player who performed well for the Ateneo Team B was Glen Capacio’s other son Mykee Capacio. Missing from the team is Bon Jovi Cipriano and Paul Siarot.

Center Elmer Labis jams the ball

The scores:

STI College (69)

Sabellina 19, Ohandja 12, Bautista 8, Morales 7, Chavez 5, Moreno 4, Po 4, Melano 4, Labis 2, Crisostomo 2, Bocablo 2, Riva 2, Saldaña 0, Ortega 0,

ATENEO B (54)

Fran 12, Capacio 11, Adornado 11, Panganiban 6, Unson 4, Roa 4, Attilano 4, Mercado 2,

Quarterscores: 14 – 19, 29 – 29, 54 – 46 , 69 -54

*Lighting at the San Andres Gym is so horrible i did not take pictures of the game anymore and just posted these file pictures

Blue Eagles debut in FMC

Nico Salva scoops one in

The Father Martin's Cup proved to be the debut of the most sought after High school star Kiefer Ravena. Ravena started the game against NAASCU contender St Clare Saints in the Blue Eagles first game of the season. Kiefer did not waste time as he scored from a drive on the baseline and eventually topscored in his first game with 17 points. Rookie hotshot Mark Tallo, former Junior Archer Gwynne Capacio and Ravena's sparring partner Von Pessumal had enough minutes and showed that they have adjusted to Coach Norman's system.

Mark Tallo showed good ball handling skills

Visibly missing on the Blue Eagles bench were Ryan Buenafe, Art de la Cruz and Chris de Chavez who were all having academic problems while Oping Sumalinog and Greg Slaughter were not there for various reasons. The five missing guys opened up a lot of big minutes for the rest of the Blue Eagles who were unforgiving in their 102-60 conquest of the saints.

Ravena,. off to the races

Five Blue Eagles were in double figures. Besides Ravena, Justin Chua was unstoppable inside as he scored 16 points while his back up Jepoy Erram responded well in the fourth quarter that gave him a career high of 16 points. Former Blue Eaglet power forward showed tremendous versatility as shooting guard as he sank four three pointers enroute to 14 points while the very reliable Nico Salva gave his share by scoring 14 points as well. Capacio had five points while Pessumal and Tallo sank one three pointer each.

The two rookies with two former Eaglets

lighting in San Andres Gym is so bad i did not take pix anymore

photos from Fr. Nemy Que's Facebook account

Blue Eaglets beat Junior Olympians

Rebound Action

The Four-peat seeking Ateneo Blue Eaglets shook off opening quarter jitters and then finally caught up on the STI College Junior Olympians to score an 89 - 81 win. New center Chris Porter took care of the inside while incoming senior Kiefer Lim took care of the outside as the debut of Coach Joe Silva seemed pointed to the right direction. The Blue Eaglets paraded a cast of new faces and even played some incoming freshmen to show that they are ready to defend their UAAP title for the third time to get a fourth straight title to match the 1983-1986 romp of the Blue Eaglets.

Eagles on the offensive

Former SBP campaigners Matthew Nieto, Michael Nieto, Martin Mendoza, Enzo Joson also got some playing time and did not disappoint as the veterans guided them against the hard-nosed defense of the Junior Olympians. The Blue Eaglets played minus Lambert Tenorio, Mark Gamboa and Gerard Austria but got good games from Gabe Capacio and Kiefer Lim plus some contributions from the new kids.

back to the action

The Junior Olympians started the quarter with a 16 - 8 lead as the Blue Eaglets played tentatively. The Junior Olympians relied on their guards to stymie the Blue Eaglets offense. Point guards Macky Delorino and Vince Amparo showcased their ball handling wizardry while Erven Silverie and Eric Sanchez attacked the basket consistently. Big men Arjay Napenas and John Parinas had their share of points inside the paint to showcase the balanced attack by the Junior Olympians. Other notable contributors for the Olympians were Raffy Rebugio and John Baquiran.

The two Nietos on the court

Chris Porter and Tomas Ramos stamped their class inside the shaded lane while Kiefer Lim sank three three pointers. The Blue Eaglets also threw a defensive jacket on the Junior Olympians as UAAP juniors Champs surged ahead by 15 in the opening of the fourth quarter. The Junior Olympians fought back by matching the defensive intensity of the Blue Eaglets and this led to baskets by Rebugio, Napenas and Silverie, their efforts cut the Blue Eaglets lead to only six points with three minutes left. This prompted Coach Joe Silva to bring in Chris Porter back who continued his unstoppable romp inside the shaded lane to seal the win for the Blue & White.

Vince Amparo gets the rebound

THE SCORES

ATENEO (89)

Ramos 20, Asuncion 19, Porter 17, Lim 11, Asistio 7, Mi Nieto 6, Capacio 4, Nieto 2, Ladaban 2, Mendoza 0, Joson 0, Vitangcol 0,

STI COLLEGE (81)

Napenas 18, Silverie 17, Rebugio 15, Amparo 8, Baquiran 8, Delorino 6, Pariñas 5, Sanchez 4, Lucban 0

Knights exact revenge over Olympians

Sabellina wins the tap

The Letran Knights have a the most NCAA basketball titles in the country and its rich basketball tradition is that its always a contender in the NCAA. Last year the Olympians beat the Knights by 15 points which made the Knights respect the Global City squad. In that game the Olympians used their signature defense to clog the lanes and limit their shooters. Unfortunately this time around the Olympians were in disarray and their offense was quite allergic and the Knights capitalized on this to give the Olympians a sound 72 - 62 beating thus avenging their loss last year.

RK Morales scores

The first quarter saw both teams size up each other as D- Leaguer Maclean Sabellina starting things up with a bank shot. The Knights tried to shoot the lights out as their main gunner Kevin Alas scored at will while the rest of the Knights followed suit. The Olympians came back and went up 14 -13 with time down to six seconds with the Knight's Alas about to give the Intramuros based team the lead as he was awarded two free throws. Unfortunately Alas muffed both shots but made up for his boner by getting the rebound and scoring on a follow up. That play pretty much sums up the laxity of the Olympians.

Noel Ohjandja worked hard

for his 12 points

The second quarter was all to familiar refrain as the Olympians went to penalty early which the Knights capitalized on once again. The Olympians defense was out of sync which made the Olympians foul the Knights most of the time, this eventually resulted in free throws for the Knights. The Olympians gave up 26 points in the 2nd quarter, a far cry from their game last year when they limited the Knights to only 2 second quarter points. The Knights eventually closed out the quarter with a commanding 41 - 33 lead.

Jerald Bautista on an And one play

The third quarter was the last stand of the Olympians as their shock troopers led by their new Cameroonian recruit Noel Ohandja, Elmer Labis, Norman Ihalas and Jerald Bautista cut down the lead of the Knights to just one 47 - 46. Unfortunately, the same mistakes that hounded the Olympians all game long came back as they allowed the Knights to close the quarter with a 5 - 0 run. After that the Olympians never got close as the knights avenged their loss in last year's Fr Martin's Cup. Ohjanda eventually topscored for the Olympians with 12 points.

The tough inside defense of

the Knights prevented Cedric Ablaza

to topscore again

THE SCORES:

LETRAN COLLEGE (72)

K. Alas 18, Belorio 17, J. Alas 8, Dysam 7, Lituania 6, Gabriel 6, Cruz 3, Cudal 3, Mendoza 3, Panin 1,

STI COLLEGE (62)

Ohandja 12, Ihalas 10, Bautista 9, Labis 9, Morales 6, Crisostomo 5, Po 3, Riva 3, Ablaza 2, Sabellina 2, Chavez 0, Melano 0, Bocablo 0, Saldana 0, Moreno 0,

Quarterscores: 15 - 14, 41 - 33, 52 - 46, 72 - 62

Junior Olympians win in FMC debut

Eric Sanchez scores a three

The first is always the hardest specially for a team that has just been assembled for the past two weeks. The STI College Junior Olympians start their quest for a a Juniors title in the forthcoming 11th NAASCU by joining the Fr. Martin's Cup as a guest team. This way the team can eventually gel, get to run some plays and more importantly know what their roles will be come game time. With only four remaining remnants of last year's team, the road to respectability seems to be a long one considering that the Junior Olympians have yet to make it to the NAASCU final four.

Macky Delorino takes it to hoop

The year's team is led by third year veteran Eric Sanchez who has blossomed into the team's all around player. Together with Sanchez is a cast that can shoot the lights out on any given day as the duo of Erven Silverie and Vincent Amparo showcase the superb outside shooting of the team. Add to the mix shifty guard Macky Delorino and the inside presence of Arjay Napenas and returning center John Pariñas. The six players form the core of the Olympians who are also trying out other junior players who will suit the STI Basketball system.

Erven Silverie sank four three pointers

In this year's Father Martin's Cup, the Junior Olympians are entered as a guest team in the Juniors division and their mission is to hone their skills and gel so that come NAASCU time the team is a well oiled machine. In their first game the Junior Olympians faced a tough stand by the Emilio Aguinaldo College - Immaculate Conception Academy Brigadiers as the Junior Olympians held on to beat their NCAA juniors counterparts to the tune of a 71 - 69 win. Arjay Napenas and John Parinas were the big guns who scored inside while Silverie, Delorino, Amparo and Sanchez each sank at least a three pointer to show the balanced scoring of the NAASCU Junior contenders.

Vincent Amparo was a force

both on offense and defense

The Junior Olympians blew hot and cold as they allowed the EAC squad to get back as they repeatedly turned the ball over after threatening to pull away. In the third quarter the Junior Olympians led 57 - 48 after Erven Silverie sank three three pointers which the EAC zone defense failed to neutralize. In the fourth quarter, the Junior Olympians big men were in foul trouble which prompted coach Hubert delos Santos to go small. The Brigadiers capitalized on this and crawled back until the final seconds where they missed three point blank field goals that would have sent the game into overtime. The Junior Olympians live to fight another day, next stop - the UST Tiger Cubs.

Arjay Napenas gets the rebound

The Scores

STI College Junior Olympians (71)

Napeñas 16, Pariñas 14, Silverie 14, Delorino 7, Sanchez 7, Amparo 6, Boquiran 4, Lucban 2, Pasos 1

EAC (69)

Mendoza 27, Superable 19, Padriones 10, Guinta 7, Manreza 2, Mayone 2

Quarterscores: 20 - 14, 35 - 35, 57 - 51, 71 -69

My Palawan Experience

Manning the weaver

Taming the scorpion

Holding on to the Crocodile

Selfie at Ka Lui

Eating the sweet and sour fish

Maclean Sabellina D-League star in the making

The Rising Star of the Olympians

in the D-League

When the National Athletic Association of Schools Colleges and Universities decided to bring down the age limit of the league from 25 to 23 in 2007 the first reaction we had was where will we recruit players for the Olympians. We looked at our remaining players and what we saw was that our team will be decimated badly. I immediately told our Coach Vic Ycasiano that we need to shop around and one place we can look for new players is Cagayan de Oro.

L-R Bryan Daguplo, Norman Ihalas, Maclean Sabellina,

Mike Daanoy, Raffy Waminal on their way to Manila

Since I usually go around the country during the second semester for the STI National Youth Convention, I asked Coach Vic to join me in the trip to Cagayan de Oro so that we can open new doors and look at some schools and players who we can bring back to Manila to become the new generation of Olympians. There were three schools we visited, Corpus Christi High School, Pilgrim Christian College and STI College Cagayan de Oro. We eventually got one player from Corpus Christi , Four from Pilgrim Christian and one from STI College.

The Mac Attack - Foul counted

During the morning of the second to the last day of our trip we passed by STI College to scout their players. Lo and behold we saw a lot of promising young guns who can be the newest Power Forwards and Centers of the Olympians. The best among that batch was a gangly and reed thin 18 year old named Maclean Sabellina. Upon seeing him Coach Vic and I were convinced that he is the future of STI Basketball. We eventually talked to all the young turks who were there, took a picture and then decided on who to take.

17 foot jumper by Mac

Two months after that meeting I went back to Cagayan de Oro to finalize our recruits and I even talked to some of their parents on their apparent transfer to Manila come the summer of 2008. The six players eventually got lots of playing time but the bulk went to Maclean as his potential is finally paying dividends. He was the back up center for five year NCAA veteran and Olympian swatting maching Darryl Mendoza. He learned a lot from Darryl which he still carries today most specially the work ethic that Darryl brought year in and year out.

Big Mac foils this Lapuz attempt

After three seasons with the Olympians Maclean Sabellina was the next big thing for STI. Unfortunately, we at STI would have to overcome some road bumps. After a very unsuccessful campaign by STI in the 10th NAASCU Tournament, Maclean and Cameroonian center Henri Atanga-Betayene got invited to tryout for the University of the East Red Warriors. Maclean actually decided to transfer and he sought to talk to me first before finalizing his decision.

Maclean scores two

After talking to Maclean he eventually decided to stay with the Olympians. What was nice about it was that the deciding factor for him staying was his studies. He realized that by transferring he is bound to risk a lot than by staying. I also told him that in his last two years in STI he will be the certified star of STI while by transferring he is uncertain whether he will make waves in the UAAP as a Red Warrior. Lastly, by the time his eligibility with the Olympians is over he will eventually finish his four year course by that time while he will start from scratch when he transfers. He then decided to stay to the very institution that nurtured him and hope that one day his dream to be a professional basketball player will be realized.

Mac with fellow Olympians

Lester, Tonichi & Elmer

Maclean's hard work has finally paid off because just this February he was sent to try out for the newest league to hit the country, the one that replaced the Philippine Amateur Basketball League - the PBA Developmental league or the D-League. Maclean got a spot to play for the RNW Pacific Pipes team with former PBA Point Guard Topex Robinson calling the shots. More than the roster spot is the fact that he was paid to play for this amateur team which will go very well for this young lad. I have just great things to say about Maclean and I am proud that he is finally reaping the dividends of the hard work he has put on the past few years he has been with STI. Now as the NAASCU Season nears, its time for him to make a name for himself and win us the crown. Two years from now I will read this blog again and say that the next Arwind Santos is PBA bound.