FOR the newly-minted University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball titlist De La Salle University Green Archers, there’s the déjà vu feeling – a great resemblance to their 1999 finals’ conquest of their victims, the hard-luck University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.
Stunningly identical to its UAAP campaign one score and four years ago, La Salle also overcame a 0-1 series deficit in the best-of-three finals against UST this season before snatching its first league championship since 2007 with pulsating victories in the second and third games.
It was scripted oh-so-perfectly, down to the last scene as a matter of fact. In the 1999 Game Three showdown, UST held a double-digit lead in the third quarter before La Salle roared back to deadlock the count at 67-all and send the hotly-contested thriller into overtime. In the five-minute extension, the Green Archers pulled off an epic 78-75 victory.
Fast forward to the winner-take-all Game Three of the Season 76 finals classic, which was witnessed by an all-time UAAP record crowd of 23,305 fans at the two-year-old Mall of Asia Arena last Saturday.
The Growling Tigers stormed to a 40-25 advantage with six minutes and 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter, limiting the Green Archers to just nine points in 13.5 minutes bridging the second and third quarters with its suffocating defense and the Green Archers’ inept passing and shooting.
(UST was up, 18-16, after the first quarter and 32-24 at halftime as Karim Abdul got 14 points and Jeric Teng scored 13 and had three triples.)
Perhaps sensing the game was getting out of hand, and its title hopes slowly slipping away, La Salle, led by Jeron Teng, tightened up defensively and, in a jiffy, put together a 12-0 run, and even grabbed a 47-46 edge on a Thomas Torres trifecta before Tigers playmaker Jamil Sheriff had a last-second putback to conclude the third quarter with UST ahead, 48-47.
The swift turnaround by DLSU changed the complexion of the game as tremendous pressure mounted on UST mentor Pido Jarencio’s troops the rest of the way. The “puso” in the Tigers was still there but its beat was now barely ticking.
The fourth quarter still was a nip-and-tuck affair and UST was able to re-establish some control with a 61-56 advantage with four minutes and 40 seconds left following a 54-54 tie. Again, La Salle quickly erased the five-point deficit and even took a 65-63 lead in the final seconds on a strong Jeron Teng drive.
Aljon Mariano’s pair of free throws levelled the score at 65-all. Mariano misfired on a top-of-the-key jumper at the end of regulation time that would have given UST its first UAAP crown since 2006.
In spite of tongue-wagging Kevin Ferrer’s ineptness from trifecta country, Mariano’s inability to create shots for himself throughout the series and Abdul’s sudden fondness for 15-foot jumpers after making several off DLSU man-mountain Arnold Van Opstal, the league’s Most Improved Player, UST still held the upperhand, 69-67, on fifth-year senior Jeric Teng’s jumper with 34 ticks remaining in overtime.
But sophomore Jeron Teng, Jeric’s younger brother, split his free throws four seconds later. And after a miscue by UST’s Aljon Mariano, the Green Archers went to gunner Almond Vosotros, who knocked in the game-winning jumper for a 70-69 DLSU lead at the 19.7-second mark.
An unsuccessful offense in the Growling Tigers’ next possession earned Luis Alfonso (LA) Revilla a trip to the foul line, where the graduating guard went 1-for-2 to increase the Green’s lead to two, 71-69, time down to 9.1 seconds.
Two subsequent unproductive offensives by UST, including a unbelievable three-point attempt by Abdul at the end, and the Green Archers were left celebrating their first UAAP diadem in six seasons.
For DLSU’s stoic bench maestro Juno Sauler, mimicking Jarencio’s successful rookie campaign with UST in 2006 was just more than a coincidence.
A winner in 11 of the Green’s final 12 assignments (including a nine-game winning streak starting the second round of the elimination phase), Sauler is the first freshman coach to collect a UAAP title since 2006 when Jarencio steered the Growling Tigers past heavily-favored Ateneo de Manila University, 2-1, in the finals.
Incidentally, it was the most recent time that an eventual champion had trailed 0-1 in the final series before Sauler and La Salle turned in the trick this season.
Jeron Teng, whose aggressiveness and intense will to win the championship are immeasurable (especially in Game Two when La Salle had its back against the wall), collected a season record-tying 25 points (19 of them after the first half), eight rebounds and six assists and went 7-for-9 from the free-throw line in the decisive Game Three.
Deservedly so, the muscle-bound 6-foot-2 swingman was voted the Finals Most Valuable Player as he averaged 19.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in three-game series.
Three other Archers finished in twin-digit scores in the finale — Vosotros, who posted a second team-best 15.7-point series average, chalked up 16 points. Jason Perkins (series averages of 10.3 ppg and 11.7 rpg) had a double-double with 13 markers and a game-high 18 boards and Van Opstal (12.3 ppg and 9.0 rpg in the series), who was saddled with two quick fouls in the first 10 minutes, contributed 11 points and eight reebies.
Only Jeric Teng and Abdul stood out in Game Three for UST, which was limited to 29 points in the final 21.5 minutes (including OT).
Denied of a single ring in the farewell appearance of his distinguished five-year UAAP tenure, Jeric knocked in 24 points and six rebounds.
He wound up with a series-high average of 23.0 points along with 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists and went 9-for-20 from the three-point area.
Abdul had a team-high 25 scores and eight rebounds and series norms of 19.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg for the Growling Tigers who had to settle for the distinction of being the first-ever No. 4 seed to reach the Final Four playoffs.
Ferrer followed up his frigid six-point output in Game Two with a measly seven. Mariano scored three points and finished the series with horrendous norms of 4.7 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Clark Bautista, who like Jeric Teng has completed his UAAP eligibility, only had four points for a forgettable three-game output of 13.
For reasons unknown, Ed Daquioag and Kim Lo were not fielded in by Jarencio. From where this Hoopster sat, UST’s so-called experience advantage in the series was greatly exaggerated.
Not even in the series opener was it evident. DLSU lost, 73-72, but it was because of a botched offensive in the dying seconds by the Archers.
Down by just one, Revilla utilized much of the shot clock and then suddenly passed the rock to Vosotros for a three when UST was in penalty and La Salle was ahead in the other departments with a foul to give and two timeouts to spare.
In the end, it was the Green Archers’ dominant rebounding and size advantage that propelled them to the mountain top.
No rebounds, no rings.