varsity wars nov10

8/3/2019 Varsity Wars Nov10

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/varsity-wars-nov10 1/4

RAY

Parks

•Roaring Lions,Soaring Eagles

VIEW FROMTHE TOP page 8

•Season MVPs without the ringsPARKS,

ABUEVA page 10

Love:YYYY

YYDi ka niya makikilala

pag di mo suot jersey

• Ang lagay ng puso, careerat bulsa mo malalaman na saBILOG ANG BOLA page 9

CALVIN

Abueva

SWEET, SWEET WIN: Ateneo’s Norman Black (left)and Frankie Lim of San Beda.

AUGUST DELA CRUZ

CANCER

VOL. 1 NO. 9 • NOVEMBER 10, 2011 www.libre.com.ph



NOVEMBER 10, 2011

2011 COLLEGIATE HOOPS: VIEW FROM THE TOP

Roaring Lions, Soaring Eagles

Ateneo Blue Eagles extendedtheir dominance for the fourthstraight year with a mercilessand methodical drubbing of theFar Eastern University Tama-raws in the best-of-three titleseries.

Not to be outdone, the RedLions of Mendiola were equally murderous as they brushedaside the challenge of San Se-bastian Stags in their own finalseries.

Battle-tested coach NormanBlack, undeniably the finest col-legiate coach alive, whipped theEagles into a mean fighting ma-chine that even role players

were assured of getting theirshare of the limelight.

Ateneo boasted of ace re-cruits Kiefer Ravena and 6-foot-11 Greg Slaughter but this wasa team which no longer parad-ed the likes of Chris Tiu, EricSalamat and Ryan Buenafe,three key men who sizzled forthree glorious seasons.

Black, however, was un-moved. He knew that a four-peat was within reach. The Ea-gles only needed to fly in har-mony.

There was Nico Salva, who

would later be named as FinalsMost Valuable Player, mainly because of his ability to deliverthe goods when the Eagles gotthemselves into trouble.

Pesky guard Emman Mon-fort, Kirk Long and Bacon Aus-tria never gave an inch. Theother Eagles—Bon Jovi Cipri-ano, Juan Miguel Tiongson,Luis Gonzaga III, John Paul Er-ram, Chris Sumalinog, JustinChua, Von Pessumal and Frank B. Golla Jr.—also played withgusto whenever given the play-ing time.

Black, as expected, didn’tsingle out a top performer forthe conquerors.

He told INQUIRER ’s resident

UAAP scribe Jasmine Payo thatthe triumphant stint had a lotto do with teamwork more thanindividual talent.

The PBA’s first Grand Slamcoach and Mr. 100 per cent,

whose rivalry with the colorfulBilly Ray Bates was unforget-table said, “When I used to play,I used to take more pride witheverybody respecting the factthat I played my best every time.”

“That’s what I also to try to

instill in my players. You wantto be known as a good player,but you also want to be knownas being a good team player.For me, that’s everything be-cause people respect you whenthey see you go out and do thesame thing every night withoutfail and have the will to win ev-ery night.”

Ateneo hinted of things tocome when it wallopped a visi-bly-nervous FEU side in GameOne, 82-64, before cementingits place in the select list of four-peaters with a comprehen-sive, 82-69, demolition of theTamaraws in Game Two.

‘‘Teamwork, teamwork,teamwork. Coach Black put intomotion a system which is very effective. Everyone has his rolein the team,” said Adamsoncoach Leo Austria, whose Fal-cons stopped Ateneo’s jugger-naut in the second round.

Picked by experts as theteam with an even chance of outflying the Eagles this season,the Falcons, however, surren-dered their twice-to-beat edgeagainst the Tamaraws in the Fi-nal Four.

Adamson also lost its wom-en’s basketball title to the Lady Tamaraws. The junior crown

went to the NU Bullpups whofrustrated the Baby Tamaraws.This was NU’s first title in four

decades in the league.

The seeds of the Eagles dom-ination was planted by sports-loving Ateneo alumni includingsuccessful sportsman-business-man Arben Santos, who helpedin recruiting blue-chip playersduring the early 2000s.

Santos, Ateneo Hall-of-Famer, was an all-around ath-lete playing varsity basketball,football, softball and track andfield in the late ’60s. He waschosen Athlete of the Year andscored the winning goal whichgifted Ateneo the NCAA footballchampionship in 1968.

Overshadowed by rival De LaSalle, which won the title from1998-2001, Ateneo bannered by Wesley Gonzales, Larry Fonaci-er, LA Tenorio, Enrico Villanue-

va, Epok Quimpo, Sonny Tadeo,Gec Chia and Rich Alvarezstarted its climb after unseatingthe Archers in a closely-fought2002 series. Santos managed

this winning team.Santos said the key is re-

cruiting since other schools aredetermined more than ever toclip the wings of the Eagles.

Is the five-peat reachable?Ravena is very much eligible,

while Slaughter, no longer Ce-bu’s gigantic secret, can opt toplay one more season beforebarrelling his way to the pros.Then, there’s the 6-foot-4 Salva,

who has the golden oppurtunity

to put himself in Ateneo’s list of

basketball greats by winning hisfifth straight crown.

“The five-peat is going to be very difficult mainly because allthe other teams are getting bet-ter,” Black told Payo. “Bottomline is we’ve done a good job inrecruiting.”

Like the Eagles, the Lions of coach Frankie Lim, a no-non-sense playmaker during hisprime, have been blessed withthe support of sports patron andtelecommunications magnateManny V. Pangilinan.

It is no wonder that the Ea-gles and Lions played like theRajko Toroman-coached SmartGilas. Not entirely a duplicationof Gilas, but Ateneo and Sanbead were at their brilliant best

when pressured. Unparalleled with their ball movements, theEagles and Lions would exploita gap in the defense of their re-spective foes by pumping back-

breaking 3s and slicing the mid-dle or using their deadly transi-tion game.

Overshadowed by the Stags inthe eliminations, the Lions neverpanicked. Lim wisely stuck to hisguns, knowing that a well-knitteam would eventually take theupperhand against a team relyingon the explosion of the ‘‘BigThree” of Calvin Abueva, RonaldPascual and Ian Sangalang.

By Dennis U. Eroa

THE EAGLES soared, and the Lions roared. Period.Never lacking in drama, collegiate basketballagain proved its worth as a certified blockbuster.

JUBILATIONTHE Red Lions whoop it up.

UNBREAKABLETHE Blue Eagles take the four-peat. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

8

ROARING LIONS,

SOARING EAGLESpage 9



9NOVEMBER 10, 2011

LIBRA

VIRGO

LEO

CANCER

GEMINI

TAURUS

ARIES

PISCES

AQUARIUS

CAPRICORN

SAGITTARIUS

SCORPIO

Bilog ang bola

Love:Y Career:PMoney:‘

YYYYKapag nginitian mo,

ngingitian ka rin niya

‘‘Sagot ni coach ang

masahe at sauna

PPPPDating angry birds,

happy birds na ngayon

YYYYMag-aalok siya

na masahiin ka

‘‘‘‘Dahil sagot nila lahat,

wala ka munang gastos

PPPPHuwag uminom to

celebrate, kain na lang

YYYYWow, bibigyan ka niya

ng 3 kilong tsokolate

‘‘‘Hinay ka lang sa kain,

umiwas sa mga buffet

PPAlagaang maigi mga

tuhod, career mo yan

YYYIto talaga, sisisihin

pa ang team mate

‘‘Ipagpatuloy lang

ang pag-inom ng gatas

PPWish mo nagkamali rin

sana mga karibal mo

YSori ka, masyado siya

inlab sa sport niya

‘‘‘Mahal ang painkiller?

Mag-generic na lang!

PPPGagaling ka pa lalo

sa next season

YYYYNgayong di ka na

stressed, gaganda ka

‘‘‘‘Mas magastos kung

lilipat ka ng sport

PPPHanapan ng solusyon

body odor mo

YYDi ka niya makikilala

pag di mo suot jersey

‘Hindi ka yayaman sa

kalalaro...sa ngayon

PPPPPMahal ka talaga ng

mga fans mo

YYPasasagasa na lang

daw siya sa bisikleta

‘‘Isipin mo ang gastos

bago ka magwithdraw

PPPPraning ka na tuwing

nakakarinig ng whistle

YYMahirap magmahal

ng star player

‘‘‘Talagang madudukutan

ka...ng girlfriend mo

PPKakatihin talampakan

mo: magkaka-alipunga

YYMaging honest sa sarili,

hindi mo siya mahal

‘‘‘Basta nagkapera,

bayaran mo agad

PPPMay mag-uuwi

ng trophy ninyo

YLove the game,

not the guys

‘‘Iba na size ng paa mo,

bumili bagong sapatos

PPPOk tagapunas ng pawis

basta may trabaho

YYYYYMahalin mo ang iyong

mga kaaway, hehe

‘‘‘‘Malapit na Pasko, dami

na gifts na darating

PPPWag pababayaan

katawan, exercise!

True to form, theStags lost steam inthe homestretch while

the roars of the Lionsreached ear-splittingdecibels during theseries.

‘‘But the loudestroars were heard

when they had to stay calm and poised inthe heat of battle.That is when lionscan be at theirfiercest,” wrote Sev Sarmenta in his One

game at a time col-umn at the Inquirer. Abueva was a vir-

tual no-show as theLions chewed theStags in Game One,75-63. Sangalangflopped in Game Twoand Pascual bungleda game-winning triple

which resulted to aclose, 57-55 win by the Lions in GameTwo at the Big Dome.

“It feels great,” saidSan Beda coachFrankie Lim, whosnatched his fourth ti-tle in five years. SanBeda also equalled Le-tran’s record of 16men’s basketball titles.

San Beda CollegePresident Fr. Aloys-ious Maranan ex-pressed gratitude toPangilinan and other

San Beda benefactorsfor their support.Fr.Maranan also saidthe Lions played hardto win the title.

Actually, the RedCubs under former RedLions playmaker coachBritt Reroma made it adouble celebration af-ter besting the Collegeof St.Benilde- La SalleGreenies in their own

title series.Powered by senior

guard Francis Abar-car, the Red Cubscompeleted a 3-1 se-ries victory after post-ing a 69-61 win overthe Greenies at theFilOil Flying V Arena.

“It’s a great feelingbecause we made his-tory today,” said SanBeda coach Britt

Reroma. “This team

has gone through a lot,but the players showeda lot of heart.”

San Beda took itsthird straight crownand 19th overall. TheRed Cubs overtook Ma-pua as the team withthe most number of NCAA juniors crown.

The Lions disman-tled the Big Three

with a no-nonsensedefense. They were sogood that even if main man Garvo Lan-ete struggled in theseries, the Mendiola-based dribblers were

able to frustrate theRecto aces.

Lanete was the only Lion able to make it tothe Mythical Five. SSChad Abueva and San-galang, while Letranparaded Raymond Al-mazan and Kevin Alas.

Mar Villahermosa,Rome de la Rosa,David Semerad, AnjoCaram and Baser

Amer shone.Dave Marcelo ably

filled in the spot va-cated by the injuredSu Daniel and was re-

warded with the Fi-nals MVP plum.

It’s true: You can’t

measure the hearts of champions.

ROARING LIONS,SOARING EAGLES

from page 8

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSMEMBERS of the San Beda Red Cubs pose with their NCAA juniorbasketball trophy. AUGUST DE LA CRUZNi Hormel Delata



NOVEMBER 10, 2011

PARKS, ABUEVA

Season MVPs without the ringsT

WO players with explosivemoves gained a lot of attentionin this year’s collegiate season.

They also createdquite a stir for theirfailures to lift their re-spective teams to theSeason 74 of the UAAPand 87th NCAA.

Ray Parks, whose

entry to the UAAP be-came talk of the town

won the Most ValuablePlayer plum in his first

year with the NationalUniversity Bulldogs.

The rise of Bobby Parks’ son wasn’t sur-prising. He was giventhe playing minutes by coach Eric Altamiranoand didn’t disappoint.

Hailed by the reju-

venated NU gallery askey to the Bulldogs’basketball renaissance,the 6-foot-3 former na-tional youth standout,ruled the statistical bat-tles. The UAAP putpremium on numbers

when selecting the sea-son MVP.

Parks averaged aleague-best 20 pointson top of 6.5 re-bounds, 2.9 assists,1.1 steals and 1.1blocks. He finished inthe top 10 of every statistical department.

But here’s the catch.Despite glowing num-bers, Parks failed to liftthe Bulldogs to the Fi-nal Four.

To his credit, Parksdidn’t hide the factthat a championshipring would be the

most important thing.“It’s a privilege, defi-

nitely,” said Parks.“During the season, I

just concentrated ongetting better. But I’drather win a champi-onship any day than anMVP [because] anMVP is about one man.

A championship speaksabout the whole team.”

Parks, whose fa-

ther Bobby was

picked a staggeringseven-time best im-port in the PBA,knows that his sopho-more year will bemore difficult.

Ateneo, lifted by

its no-nonsense re-cruitment program,remains favorite totake the five-peat.

Another player who won the MVPplum was SSC mainman Calvin ‘Abueva.Nicknamed the Beastfor his sudden burstof power while goingfor the hoop, thePampangueño-pride

managed to carry theStags to the FinalFour but was a virtualno-show in the titleseries against San Be-da Red Lions.

Actually, Abueva was part of the team which won the 2009NCAA plum over SanBeda. But he wasn’tthe main man in ateam bannered by Jimbo Aquino.

He echoed Parks’sentiments that achampionship crown

would be better.There was a

marked difference onthe playing styles of both Abueva andParks.

Though a betterrebounder as provenby his 18 double-dou-ble performances,

Abueva was stingy with the ball. The six-footer guard liked topenetrate a stonewalldefense.

In contrast, Parks,a member of the na-tional team to the26th SEA Games, is asmooth operator. Hehas the sense to makethe perfect pass whencovered.

Dennis U. Eroa

10

varsity wars nov10

Documents