SHS-Ateneo is NBTC National Champion

When one talks about the high school basketball scene, it’s automatic to point to Manila to have the country’s best teams. Among the top-of-mind mentions are perennial NCAA champion San Beda College, Ateneo de Manila University, National University and Chiang Kai Shek College. The School Year 2014-2015 will be an exception. A good one at that for us Cebuanos. The country’s best high school team is from Cebu: Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu. The Magis Eagles. They stunned San Beda College, 82-78, in the championship game of the Seaoil NBTC National High School Championship held last Sunday in Manila.

But so what? What does this mean? A lot! For the first time in a very long time, a team from outside Manila actually defeated a Manila team. I’ll remember San Beda for two or three occasions when they trampled on Cebu teams in the past. In the mid ’90s, the National Inter-Secondary Championship was held in Cebu, and San Beda ran overall their opponents including Don Bosco Technology Center of Cebu in the championship game. San Beda was then manned by PBA player Renren Ritualo, Jenkins Mesina, Francis Mercado, Xavier Nunag and Mark Jomalesa. Also in San Beda but not yet in the line-up was current USC Coach Britt Reroma who moved from Don Bosco. Don Bosco was led by Wendell Senerpida, Giovanni Canceko, Hendrell Saliz, Raymond Mateo, Rommel Sido, Mark Cuba, John Abanador and Marco Alcaraz (the actor). (I’m sure Fr. Lan Guiao can memorize all of them). The other time that San Beda defeated a Cebu team was in another National Inter-Secondary Championship which was played in Dumaguete. My guess is this took place in the late ’90s or early 2001-2002.  San Beda crushed a hapless Sacred Heart School-Jesuit side. The Red Cubs crushed SHS-J again by more than 40 points at a Bantay Bata benefit game among the country’s high school champions in 2012. After all the losing and bowing to Manila teams, the jinx is finally over.

With Janjan Jaboneta finally overcoming a scoring slump and its full court press working wonders, the Magis Eagles came from as many as 16 points behind to score the nerve-wracking win and become the first Cebu team to defeat San Beda in the past two decades (or more). For the first time in Cebu Basketball history, we became the toast of the town with sports websites and the press running feature stories on the team’s key players like Jaboneta, Zachy Huang, Josh Sinclair, Joseph Mayol and Nino Araw-araw. Joey Villar of The Philippine Star (The Freeman’s mother publication) said it best when he wrote, “The best high school team in the land is not from Manila but from Cebu.”  Never before has SHS-Ateneo de Cebu received so much attention (which it fittingly deserves, we must add). The win has proven that Cebu is no longer that far behind Manila in terms of basketball development. Last December, UV won the national championship of the BEST Passerelle Tournament, beating powerhouse Manila champion Chiang Kai Shek College. SHS-Ateneo also won two national Passerelle championships in 2010 and 2011. But these national titles didn’t come overnight. Cebu Basketball re-engineered its youth programs awhile back with more focus now being given to the youth sector: from the Under 10 all the way to the Under 16 age groups. While you read this piece, games of these age groups are being played at the CYBL 2015: Season 8. The good news is that we’re finally reaping the fruits of all the hard work.

For the Magis Eagles, the national title served as a fitting way to cap its high school season that included a CESAFI title and a lesson-learning runner-up finish at the CVIRAA the weekend before the NBTC national finals. This silver medal was a blessing in disguise; a good spanking that the team deserved to wake up and rediscover its winning ways. The NBTC title was also an appropriate closure for the team’s seniors and hardworking players whose drive started in the summer of 2014. Jaboneta was named finals MVP with his 27 points and 7 rebounds, giving fans a glimpse of what he can do for U.P. in the future. Joseph Daniel Mayol was named to the Mythical Five. Nino Araw-araw, the smallest guy in the tournament, made crucial steals during their press and orchestrated the end-game rally that included a clutch trey that triggered the fourth quarter comeback. Zachy Huang strung up eight points in the same run with his quick moves at the post. Pio Longa was credited for his booming treys throughout the national finals weekend including two triples in the dying seconds of the game against defending NBTC national champs Chiang Kai Shek. Steven Co played tough defense and had clutch baskets when the team needed it most. Junior Josh Sinclair, who was relatively unknown, was named Most Outstanding Player and Best Defensive Player of the tournament. The other members of the team were Adi Gaviola, Travis Mantua, Jeremy Nacua, Renzo Calumpang, Jed Colonia. The coaching staff was composed of Rommel Rasmo, Francis Auquico and Helben Regodon.

It all turned out to be a perfect weekend for the team of regular students who also had duties off the court. The seniors had to take their fourth periodical exams before the CVIRAA, while the undergrads joined all their classmates at their periodical exams this week: straight from the court to the plane to the classroom. At the end of the day though, it’s all about building athletes with character. Championships will come and go but building champions for life will never cease to be the ultimate goal for sports. To steal a phrase from SHS-Ateneo, it’s all about AMDG.

***

Time-out: The BEST Center basketball clinic sponsored by Milo will be held May 11-16, 2015, at the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue Campus Gym. For details, check out the page “BEST Center Sports Cebu” in Facebook.