THE year 2016 is about to come to a close.
And great has the year been for this dinosaur-aging Hoopster so far. More than the journalistic work that I have churned out in the practice of my profession as a sportswriter/columnist for the last 35 years, the unadulterated joy comes in knowing that the family is intact and remains vibrant.
While my parents have left this earthly world for more than a decade, we, their eight SC (senior citizen) children (from age 72 to 61), are still here to share our views on local and world events, watch major sports events at the Big Dome or Mall of Asia Arena if not via the magic of television, and celebrate the Yuletide season with Christ and our loved ones in our hearts.
That said, greener the grass it will be for this sports journalist if De La Salle University romps away with the men’s basketball title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines this season.
The Green Archers, who own a 15-1 overall record for the season, go for the jugular on Wednesday, December 7, in Game Two of the best-of-three UAAP finals at the Araneta Coliseum following a spine-tingling 67-65 victory over their long-time arch nemesis, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, in the series opener last Saturday at the MOA Arena.
A championship, if not a 2-0 sweep, will be a fitting farewell gift to King Archer and team skipper Jeron Teng, who is set to complete his fifth and final year of collegiate eligibility.
Teng was the Game One hero on both ends of the floor, hitting the game-winning basket with 15.1 seconds left on a drive, 66-65, after the Eagles momentarily took the lead for the first and last time on a Matt Nieto bucket and subsequently blocking a short jumper by Eagles top scorer and pro coach Norman Black’s son Aaron that led to a DLSU possession and a 1-for-2 trip from the foul line by Kib Montalbo with 3.1 ticks remaining.
Jeron, whose play I have personally chronicled since his grade school and high school days at Xavier School, has one UAAP championship ring via the Green’s 2-1 success (after trailing 0-1) against big brother Jeric and the University of Santo Tomas in the 2013 finals where he earned Most Valuable Player honors in the process.
Jeron, who despite his roundball success remains a humble and mild-mannered fella, has been crucified by critics for his poor shot selection at times but when it comes to crunch time, he still is the Green Archers’ most reliable option, even with the rim-protecting presence of UAAP MVP-bound Cameroon native Benoit (Ben) Mbala, who had 20 points and 15 boards in Game One to extend his consecutive double-double streak to 16 games.
La Salle head coach Aldin Ayo, who has seven assistants (yes, it’s seven officially on paper), is also on track to become the first collegiate mentor to win championships in both the National Collegiate Athletic Association and UAAP in consecutive seasons after piloting the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights to the NCAA crown a year ago.
For Ateneo to stretch the 2016 UAAP finals to a decisive Game Three, it needs Ferdinand (Thirdy) Ravena III (who coughed up the rock six times in the series opener), Black and Adrian Wong to step up offensively and the big men such as 6-foot-8 Chibueze Ikeh from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 6-foot-7 second-round bright spot George Isaac Go from Xavier School and 6-foot-6 Gideon Babilonia to make life hard for the 6-foot-7 Mbala (the Blue Eagle biggies successfully bottled up Mbala in the second round that led to the Green Archers’ first and only loss after a 12-0 start).
The Blue Eagles can ill afford to have another poor start. In Game One, they trailed, 19-6, after the first quarter (even when Mbala went scoreless) and were down by 10, 36-26, at the half so much so the Blue were forced to play catch-up ball.
There’s no time to waste if Ateneo wants to live for another few days.
* * *
No excuses, please.
One call or non-call at crunch time does not result in a game loss.
Make no excuses even when your head coach loudly proclaims to high heavens that the referees swallowed their whistles in the final seconds of a game.
The last time I checked, a college game still consists of 40 minutes. What a team does in the first 39 minutes matters a whole lot more than the last 60 seconds.
Great coaches never make excuses for a game defeat.
Likewise, great players never make excuses for a game loss. They simply move on and look to perform better in their next games.