In an epic duel that took the attention of Filipino sports fans away from the Busan Asian Games, the Ateneo Blue Eagles dethroned the La Salle Green Archers and crowned themselves the new UAAP champions at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Eagles repulsed the Archers, 77-70, for the victory, which, to the the winners, might have felt like winning the gold medal in the Asiad.
And why not? It’s the first for the school in 14 long, lonely years, and it came at the expense of its long-time rival in a sudden death that seemingly took an eternity to finish.
After the smoke of battle cleared, one side of the Big Dome had a mammoth throng in blue shrieking and shouting, jumping and dancing while the other side had a crowd in green rushing to the exits, their expression no different from that of a man who had lost his cell phone to a snatcher.
Indeed, it was a big loss for the Archers, whose defeat denied them what could have been a school record five straight championships and a shot at the league mark seven consecutive titles made by the University of the East Warriors in the 60s.
Instead, there were the Eagles finally experiencing the ultimate high again in the league after pulling off back-to-back championships in 1987-1988.
"I can’t believe it but we did it," said coach Joel Banal, who scored a sweet personal triumph steering the Eagles to the championship in his very first season in the Jesuit-run university.
Banal — a Mapua Tech alumnus who piloted the Cardinals to back-to-back NCAA championships in the early 90s — and his Eagles practically completed a grand slam this season with the team also reigning supreme in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) early in the year, beating the Archers, among other teams.
But it was the UAAP championship, which felt like one coming from heaven for the Eagles.
"Wow ang feeling siguro lalong-lalo na sa akin with this coming in my last year in the league," said Enrico Villanueva, winner of both the season and finals MVP trophies.
In the sudden death, Villanueva, however, was just one of several Eagles who played big to help win the team the coveted crown.
Wesley Gonzalez, Jeck Chia, Rich Alvarez, LA Tenorio and Chris Quimpo had their own moments in the nerve-wracking, heart-stopping contest. Larry Fonacier, the hero in first game, was used sparingly after a bout with food poisoning which required him to be hospitalized on the eve of the finals.
Villanueva, Gonzalez, Chia and Alvarez pumped in 10 points or more while Tenorio and Quimpo combined for only 14 but fired triples in the fourth quarter that terribly hurt the Archers.
Quimpo, a reserve guard playing on borrowed time with Tenorio already rooted on the bench on fouls, made the biggest basket of the game with a long trey from the right quartercourt that practically sealed the win at 73-62 with a little over two minutes left to play.
Playing one big game together, the Eagles actually took control most of the way but just couldn’t easily take the fight away from the Archers.
Ateneo enjoyed a 23-17 lead after the first quarter, sat on a 42-37 cushion at halftime and carried a 56-52 spread over into the final quarter.