Escamis, Cardinals banish ghost of past season with long-awaited NCAA crown

MANILA, Philippines -- Following a tough three-game championship series loss against the San Beda Red Lions in NCAA Season 99 almost a year ago, the Mapua Cardinals started their 2024 hard at work.

Reeling from the tough loss against San Beda, where they won the first game before faltering in the next two games, Mapua started off the next calendar year already training back in January, seemingly visualizing themselves ending a more than three-decade-long drought of basketball reign that they were not able to snap just a few weeks before.

Fast forward to December, and the Cardinals can now call themselves champions once again.

Mapua guard Clint Escamis said that their loss last season really left a bad taste in their mouth that they wanted to remove.

He said that head coach Randy Alcantara demanded serious training from the team right from the get-go, which underlined just how the mentor wanted to replicate the championship he won back in 1991 with the then-Mapua Institute of Technology.

“Siyempre, sobrang sakit ng pagkatalo na yun. But yun nga, we turned that frustration into hard work every time, and I give that to my teammates,” he told reporters after the game.

“Siyempre sinasabihan din kami ni Coach Randy [Alcantara.] Since Day 1, nagpatawag si Coach Randy ng practice… Yun, sinundan ko lang din and in-instill ko lang sa mga teammates ko rin talaga,” he added.

Coming off a huge season last year, where he won the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player awards, Escamis came up second in the MVP race this time around.

“Sobrang sarap talaga kasi knowing na nakuha ko yung last year, yung MVP pero wala, talo kami e. Masakit sa puso ko talaga kasi somehow, ako lang masaya e. Pero this year, okay lang kahit wala akong individual awards, I set that aside,” he said.

“Gusto ko munang team-first talaga muna. What’s better for the team. Yun ang nangyari. Kahit sa season pa lang, okay lang kahit hindi ako mag-best player, basta panalo. Basta maka-contribute ang mga teammates. Magkakumpuyansa. Para sa leading up to the playoffs, and that’s what happened,” he added.

Three other Cardinals finished in double-digits in the title clincher, led by Marc Cuenco with 19 points, Lawrence Mangubat with 17 markers and Rookie of the Year Chris Hubilla with 15.

This is Mapua’s third finals in the past four years, with the star guard coming up big once again in the title clincher.

Escamis finished with 18 points and four assists to go with three steals all in 23 minutes.

Alcantara, for his part, bared that Escamis made him a promise that he will win a championship for Mapua. And now, that promise is fulfilled.

He also lauded last season’s Rookie-MVP, tipping his hat on Escamis’ heart.

“Very special. Sabi ko nga, Nakakuha kami ng ganung klaseng player. Siyempre, talagang hindi nagpapatalo e. Nakita naman natin, juniors pa lang,” he said of Escamis, whom he coached back in the juniors ranks. The two won two championships for the Red Robins in seasons 92 and 94. 

“Last finals, may injury na siya nun pero naglaro pa rin. Iba yung puso ng Clint Escamis. At talagang very special. Mission accomplished.”