Eagles-Archers triplebill in Filoil

The Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup has scheduled a rare blockbuster bill featuring three games between archrivals Ateneo and La Salle at the Arena in San Juan on June 1 and this early, organizers are bracing for a full house. It’ll be the last day of eliminations which started last Saturday.

La Salle Zobel takes on the Blue Eaglets in a Juniors Group B contest at 9 a.m. to get the ball rolling then the Lady Archers face the Lady Eagles in a Women’s Group B tiff at 11 a.m. Adamson and San Beda College square off in a Seniors Group A match at 2 p.m. before the much-awaited tussle between the Archers and Eagles in a Seniors Group B encounter at 4 p.m.

Two days later, the playoffs begin as the top two finishers of the Juniors Groups A and B slug it out in the crossover semifinals and the Seniors wage war in the knockout quarterfinals with Group B No. 2 playing Group A No. 3 and Group A No. 2 against Group B No. 3. On June 5, it’s the crossover semifinals in the Women’s division and two more quarterfinal outings in the Seniors division with Group B No. 1 against Group A No. 4 and Group A No. 1 against Group B No. 4.

On June 7, the semifinal losers in the Juniors and Women’s divisions play off for third while the four winners of the Seniors quarterfinals battle in the semifinals. On June 12, it will be championship action with three Finals games in the Juniors at 10:15 a.m., Women at 12 noon and Seniors at 4 p.m. The Seniors battle for third will be at 2 p.m.

This is the seventh straight Filoil Flying V tournament. The competition actually started in 2006 as the Homegrown Invitational Cup but the Filoil Flying V collegiate preseason tournament was institutionalized the next year. No team has won the crown more than once with the Archers claiming the inaugural trophy in 2007 then UE, FEU, San Sebastian, Ateneo and NU in that order.

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At the season inaugurals last Saturday, Filoil Flying V chief executive officer Raffy Villavicencio announced that the perpetual trophy – named after sports patron Ambassador Eduardo (Danding) Cojuangco, Jr. as the ECJ Cup – will be awarded to the team that wins three straight Seniors championships. Since no school has reigned more than once, it’s a tall order to win three in a row. Also during the inaugurals, Villavicencio paid tribute to college basketball legend Lim Eng Beng who was introduced to fans before the La Salle-UST game in a brief program. Beng came with wife Eleanor and their three children. Villavicencio recently launched a campaign to raise funds for Beng’s liver cancer treatment, offering season tickets at P10,000 each with all the proceeds going to the former Archer. Cojuangco jumpstarted the campaign with a P1 Million contribution. Three La Salle Christian Brothers – Br. Ricky Laguda, Br. Bernie Oca and Br. Felipe Belleza – joined Cojuangco in the tribute ceremony honoring Beng with a plaque of honor.

This year’s Filoil Flying V tournament is the biggest ever with 18 entries in the Seniors division, 12 in the Juniors and 10 in the first-ever Women’s division. The Senior teams are in Group A, San Beda, NU, Jose Rizal, Perpetual Help, Adamson, UP, FEU, St. Benilde and Arellano and in Group B, UST, La Salle, Ateneo, Southwestern University, UE, San Sebastian, Emilio Aguinaldo, Letran and Lyceum. The Junior squads are in Group A, UST, Letran, NU, UP, San Beda and La Salle Greenhills and in Group B, Ateneo, Perpetual Help, FEU, Mapua, La Salle Zobel and San Sebastian. The Women’s division is composed of in Group A, UST, FEU, Adamson, UP and St. Benilde and in the Group B, Ateneo, Centro Escolar, NU, Lyceum and La Salle.

Aside from introducing the Women’s competition and the unveiling of the ECJ Cup, Filoil league chairman and Filoil chief finance officer Boysie Henares said the seventh season is also marking several firsts like the All-Star Game on June 8 and the participation of Cebu collegiate titlist Southwestern University and guest Centro Escolar University.

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Ato Badolato is the league’s overall commissioner with Pepe Sanchez the Seniors commissioner, Aric del Rosario the Women’s commissioner and Bert de la Rosa the Juniors commissioner. Virgil Villavicencio, one of the tournament’s founders, is the senior league consultant. Joey Guillermo is the tournament director and Filoil Flying V Sports general manager. League vice chairman is David Dualan.

The tournament got off to a rousing start last Saturday with NU upending San Beda, 73-71, in overtime, La Salle hacking out a come-from-behind 73-67 win over UST and Ateneo defeating Southwestern, 77-72. Two-time UAAP MVP Bobby Ray Parks led the Bulldogs’ charge with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in 36 minutes and got a huge lift from Cameroonian Alfred Aroga who delivered 16 points and 12 rebounds. Rome de la Rosa and Ola Adeogun netted 14 apiece to pace the Red Lions.

For Ateneo, Kiefer Ravena was the presiding officer with 22 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 30 minutes. Point guard Nico Elorde contributed 19 points, including 4-of-8 triples, and rookie Chris Newsome compiled 14 points and 11 boards to back up Ravena. Bon Guillena paced the Cobras with 23 points in 21 minutes.

La Salle leaned on a balanced attack to subdue UST as four Archers finished in double figure points – Jason Perkins with 17 and 13 rebounds, Gabby Reyes 13 and Jeron Teng and Almond Vosotros 10 apiece. The Growling Tigers nearly pulled it off behind the blazing guns of Jeric Teng and Aljun Mariano who combined for 59 points or almost 90 percent of UST’s entire output.