The news came as a pleasant surprise, prompting well-intended pundits to say maybe it’s time for another bonfire at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.
That’s because it’s been 29 years since the Fighting Maroons lifted a championship trophy in any basketball league. UP’s only UAAP basketball crown came in 1986 with Joe Lipa’s crew that had Ronnie Magsanoc, Benjie Paras, Eric Altamirano and others.
UP won the inaugural conference of the fledgling Filsports Basketball Association (FBA) by winning over hometown bet Pampanga Foton Tornadoes at Collegio de Sebastian gym at City of San Fernando last Friday.
The final score, 78-68, doesn’t tell you how messy the game was with the enormous amount of turnovers and free throws bungled. UP missed 28 out of 56 charities while Pampanga converted only 20 of 35. UP had 26 turnovers while Pampanga had 21.
But the UP victory was a character win, showing the young team’s ability to withstand mental and physical pressure. Keep in mind that the Maroons were the road team, playing in front of about a thousand hometown fans who were hoping for a title on their turf.
The Fighting Maroons pounced on the inability of the Tornadoes to get their offense on track and led by as much as 14. And when the Tornadoes tried to engineer a resurgence, they held off the rallies and kept their poise.
It may be hard to fathom how a college-based team managed to steal the thunder from teams that had more experience and were physically older and stronger. It’s just that UP won the games that mattered, like winning over Metro Racal in the semifinals to be able to play Pampanga in the championship.
This win augurs well for UP’s upcoming collegiate campaign. It will probably still trim down its line-up to the allowable maximum and much will depend as well on who gets to finally call the shots as coach of the team: Will it be Joe Ward, Rency Bajar or someone else?
UP will still find the UAAP competition a bumpy road ahead and will need to call frequently on their championship experience in the FBA and the missed wins in the Flying V pre-season games. National University, Far Eastern University, De La Salle and Ateneo de Manila will still be formidable given their experienced rosters and well-entrenched training and recruitment methods.
For now, there may be no bonfires at UP Diliman and a joyful team dinner will suffice to relish the FBA crown.
When you haven’t hoisted a trophy for so long, it’s delightful to finally get to do it again.
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