Stunning end to the Philippine Patriots' title reign

What appeared to be an stirring home victory for the AirAsia Philippine Patriots turned into a disaster in Game 2 of the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League after another fourth quarter meltdown completed a season full of inconsistencies.

Poor outside shooting, costly fouls and turnovers paved the way for the Chang Thailand Slammers to climb back into the contest before securing a 75-68 victory to wrest the ABL crown in front of a shocked crowd at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Their downfall was greatly secured in the game's final 12 minutes as they blew a 14-point third quarter lead that allowed the Slammers to snatch the title away and win the league's second season.

Thailand's Cameroonian import Chris Kuete woke up in the fourth hitting 11 of his 12 points while getting help from Filipino imports Ardy Larong and Froilan Baguion, American center Jason Dixon and Thai cager Attaporn Lertmalaiporn.

Adding insult to this heartbreaking loss, the Patriots put themselves in foul trouble early in the fourth, allowing the Slammers to inch closer and later take the lead for good on foul shots and struggled shooting against the zone.

In the end, the Patriots walked away in utter dismay even as they watched Dixon and Baguion celebrate their second straight ABL championship alongside their Thailand teammates.

Dixon and Baguion were part of the Patriots' title team last season, although the two played contrasting roles in squad that admittedly was slightly better than this year's squad.

Dixon, now at the age of 38, was registering double-double almost every game en route to winning the Best Import award.

On the other hand, Baguion failed to get enough playing time during the latter parts of last season as the Patriots inserted Warren Ybanez, JP Alcaraz and the now-retired Christian Coronel during the completion of their title run.

This season, the two were playing big roles for the team, particularly in the finals.

And Baguion, who finished with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists, displayed what the Patriots have missed, playing steady in the two games of this final series and have almost outplayed Ybanez and Egay Billones.

He showed that in this clinching game, when he used a Dixon screen to get away from traffic then drove inside the lane for a driving layup that made it 71-66 with 56.1 seconds remaining.

From there, it was all over. Kuete added more insult with a breakaway jam off a missed shot by the Patriots. Minutes later, the Slammers were hoisting the ABL crown in front of a dead silent venue.

At first it looked like a hostile venue with perhaps the loudest crowd the Patriots ever heard this season. The audience shouted even more when triples by the likes of Ybanez, Benedict Fernandez and Billones helped them take a double digit lead in the third.

Earlier, Freeman was eager enough to bounce back from his disappointing showing in Game 1. This time, he was able to avoid foul trouble picking up just one in the first half (an unsportsmanlike for hitting Larong) and even scored an alley-oop dunk in the second period.

He was also responsible on a fastbreak opportunity when he fed Billones, who then pass it to a trailing Thomas for a three-point play with about 2:49 left in the third that made it 60-46.

But Freeman, bothered by a nagging ankle injury, began to slow down. His two freethrows with less than a minute left in the third gave the Patriots a 52-41 lead and would never score again as the rest of the crew played lackadaisical on offense that helped Thailand gain an opening.

It was a fairy tale ending to a turnaround year for the Thais. Last year, financial problems and inconsistent play hounded the then-Thailand Tigers in posting a horrendous 3-12 record in the inaugural ABL season.

But Thailand made a number of changes. A new owner stepped in to resolve their monetary problems with the Chinawongwatana family (it's patriarch is a basketball legend in Thailand) taking over the helm while adding Dixon, Kuete, Baguion and Larong to reinforce their local cagers.

Lertmalaiporn, last year's Regular Season MVP, got help from fellow Thai Piyapong Piroon, who had been a stellar outside shooter all season long (Piroon didn't play in Game 2 after nursing a knee injury in their semifinal series win over the Singapore Slingers).

At times, even Sopon Pinichpacharalert and Mana Jantuma, who played quality minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 2, would give solid production for the team coached by Raha Mortel, a Filipino who is a native of Sampaloc but has been in Bangkok since 1992 when he started playing commercial ball there.

So what's next for the Patriots? Freeman and Thomas have said they would like to return for another tour of duty but the defeat will likely pave way for a major roster overhaul, particularly on the local cager. The Philippine Daily Inquirer said in an article that coach Louie Alas' contract is set to expire while the rest of the ABL team will make bids to strengthen their lineups even further aside from making early preparations for the league's third season.

As one unnamed members of the Patriots said, "Parang bangungot ang nangyari sa amin. Siguro dahil dyan, baka siguro dalawa lang matira next season."

The return of the Philippine Basketball League

A press release was sent to sports editors and writers late Monday afternoon regarding the return of the Philippine Basketball League after almost a year of hiatus. The target date for the season-opening tournament is Feb. 26.

The release announced that six teams have confirmed their participation in the league's return with Pharex, Agrinurture (Ani-FCA), Cobra and Excelroof as holdovers from the previous tournament while adding Hobe Bihon and Cafe France as its new participants.

And as rumored for months, Sports Vision, the group that was instrumental in the formation of the Shakey's V-League in 2004, will handle the management of the revived league with a rookie draft to be held on Feb. 5.

The timing of this announcement is interesting since the PBA recently announced the formation of the D-League and the PBL being inactive after a joint venture with Liga Pilipinas in the formation of the short-lived Tournament of the Philippines.

Today, the PBA will have the D-League as one of the agendas in an owners meeting somewhere in Greenhills. This announcement will perhaps play a key role in the future of this project.

The D-League is somewhat of an answer to the PBL's inactivity with almost similar rules such as allowing players 17-26 years old to participate.

The revived PBL is likely a soft launch as it is trying to recover from financial woes and the departure of some teams that led to the league's downturn. However, the sustainability of the league is still a question mark and it's success or downfall will be determined through the upcoming tourney.

But barring any hitches, this is major news for basketball players. Many are PBA free agents and the ASEAN Basketball League is nearing its completion, thus making Filipino cagers playing for the six participating teams in that league to find jobs after the season.

The league's golden years came in the PABL era of the 1980's when players such as Alvin Patrimonio, Benjie Paras, Bong Alvarez, Samboy Lim and Vergel Meneses were able to use the league as stepping stones in their legendary basketball careers.

In the 1990's, the PBL's popularity somewhat diminished but saw the long title reigns of Tanduay Rhum, Hapee Toothpaste and Welcoat Paints while seeing the start of Fil-Ams Asi Taulava and Eric Menk in the Philippine basketball.

The previous decade saw a bit of a revived interest in the league. With the soaring popularity of college basketball, member teams were able to tap school teams as core members of their ballclubs. At the same time, Harbour Centre won a record seven straight titles from 2006-2009.

The last PBL tournament was held from mid-February until late-March of last year with Excelroof, led by San Sebastian stars Jimbo Aquino and Calvin Abueva, beat Pharex B-Complex via a sweep of the best-of-three series.

The league has been quiet since.

Reflections on the improbable journey of the PH football team

Almost a year ago, dubbed as "Diski Night", a kick-off to the countdown for the World Cup in South Africa at 1Esplanade near SM Mall of Asia.

The Philippine Football Federation was one of the organizers of the event and I was sent there by my bosses at the Manila Bulletin with no idea what to write about. I heard a lot of problems within the federation since they can't properly spend that financial assistance given by FIFA.

When I got there, the event was like a gala or social event. There was also an silent auction of football paintings with likely the moderator being Carlos Celdran (the Damaso guy who got jailed for his RH bill stand).

It was disappointing. Given that perhaps some group also financed that event, how come the PFF would prefer an event such that went the football program was so so quiet that year.

Oh, that was not just a year perhaps two or three years. There we're no national tournaments, no participating in various events like the World Cup qualifiers and the Southeast Asian Games and the Filipino Premier League, formed by the PFF in what supposed to be our national league was a big flop.

We got to interview Des Bulpin. Saying he would help put discipline on this team. He was gone a few months before current coach Simon McMenemy took over.

And then the World Cup came. It was an exciting time to watch football. The exciting part was learning that Landon Donovan scored that epic goal and celebrated wildly without even seeing the match on television.

On those two events I wondered if we would ever be successful in football. Will there be a time we would ever celebrate a wild goal from our team.

Well, I didn't expect this to happen. This soon.

Advancing to the AFF Suzuki Cup through the qualifiers was just enough. But forging a tie with Singapore came as a surprise.

Then, the Vietnam game was the ultimate shocker. I would never forget celebrating with my brother like we were a pair of crazy men after Phil Younghusband's second goal in the 80th minute that sealed the win.

Indonesia really came in and beat us. Both were close games but they had every answer against us. Both goals by Cristian Gonzales were incredible and finding ways to score were tough. Gladly also gave them a difficult time, especially with goalkeeper Neil Etheridge. Congratulations to them! Congrats din sa atin!

I guess this was what Inquirer's Francis Ochoa was talking about during the In the Huddle sportswriting seminar last month. When students and teachers asked for the lack of coverage on sports like football, he just told them that there's a need for a "paradigm shift" to get that attention. This magical run could be that answer.

So this ends a great journey for Philippine football and Philippine sports fans. So what's next? In line for the Azkals is a Challenge Cup tournament against Mongolia in February, a World Cup qualifying tourney and the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

It would be interesting to see if the sudden rise of popularity in Philippine football would continue through 2011 since there's a tendency for such things like every Manny Pacquiao win or controversial issues within our government to mellow down after being a hot topic for a few weeks or months.

What will likely kill the momentum of this recent success will be the brewing or ongoing leadership dispute in the PFF. It's safe to say that it would likely be the start of a more heated crisis, far greater than our issues with us not holding a home game in this semifinals.

Hopefully, that won't be the case but that's the reality within Philippine sports. But, who knows, there's always a miracle, like this team.

Returning Patriots import Gabe Freeman downplays 'savior' role

Gabe Freeman's return to the Philippine Patriots is likely to be the last piece of the puzzle in the team's bid to retain their championship in the ASEAN Basketball League.

But it was Freeman himself who thumbed down the idea of him being a savior of the team that has endured some rough stretches in the second season of the six-nation, ASEAN-based cage league. In fact, he just hopes to be the one who could re-energize the team at this point of the season.

"I'm not going to say that but what I'm going to do is to help the team and I'm going to bring it closer," Freeman said during the formal launching of the partnership between the team and AirAsia as its sponsor on Thursday at the Icon Ultimate Club in Makati.

"And now, it's we're not just playing to be playing but to play for each other and that's what we got to do to win the championship," he added.

The Patriots are toting a 7-4 slate and recently endured a three-game losing skid before hacking out a 73-71 victory over the Westports KL Dragons on Dec. 9 after trailing by 20 points in the early part of the second half.

Team officials, the players and fans alike are hoping that Freeman could bring his trademark energy, athleticism and workhorse mentality to answer some woes the team endured right from the start of the season. He is the fifth import of the team this season after Anthony Johnson, Donald Little, Rasheim Wright and current reinforcement Steve Thomas.

Freeman replaced Wright, the naturalized star of the Jordan national team that reached the FIBA World Champioships in Turkey.

Wright normed 13.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals in five games. The Patriots went 2-3 with him and his defense became suspect. His offensive production is likewise inconsistent. One game, he had 31 points. The next match, Wright failed to score in double figures.

He did end up his stint on a good note, hitting a number of foul shots in the dying seconds to beat the Dragons. Wright finished with 21 points.

Freeman, the 6-foot-5 former PBA Best Import with the San Miguel Beermen in the 2009 Fiesta Conference is coming off a stint with the Townsville Crocodiles of the National Basketball League of Australia.

His stint there was considered by many as a disappointment, included Freeman, logging just 9.0 points and 6.4 rebounds before deciding to leave the team voluntarily.

"It just didn't worked out," he admitted. "You know if you don't play the same way you play when you're somewhere else so they don't let you play the same way you normally play so I think that was one of the main focuses on me is that I wasn't playing the same so I don't want to stick around with that."

That brought the 25-year old globetrotting Freeman back to Manila, where he hopes to continue the same energetic performance that made him one, if not, the most prolific import in the ABL and the PBA.

He averaged 21.7 points and 15.0 rebounds in seven games with the Patriots last season and had 39 points in a win over Indonesia's Satria Muda BritAma in Game 1 of the finals. Of course, they wound up winning the ABL crown.

"How's the feeling (of being back with the Patriots)? I feel like we can win another (ABL) championship," Freeman said. "I think we got a little more talent than last year. We got a lot of young guys last year that were just hungry to win and this year we got a little more talent and we got guys who are hungrier to play so it's a little bit better for us so I'm happy to be back.

This time, however, he will mostly have new teammates. Only three players left from the previous squad in Warren Ybanez, JP Alcaraz and Erwin Sta Maria, who has been used sparingly this season.

Last season, his teammates include Rob Wainwright, bruising big man Jerwin Gaco, Nonoy Baclao, Elmer Espiritu and eventual ABL Best Import Jason Dixon. The three are now suiting up in the PBA while Dixon opted to sign up with the vastly improved Chang Thailand Slammers, owners of the league's best record at 8-3.

Freeman will have ex-pros Egay Billones, Junjun Cabatu, Benedict Fernandez and the colorful Alex Crisano as some of his new teammates. He will team up with Thomas, who had 10 points and 15 rebounds in his debut last week.

Meshing with them isn't a problem for Freeman. In fact, he even believes that this current team, despite their inconsistencies, is more talented than last season.

"It's pretty good and I think we're going to be alright," Freeman said. "I think what I can bring to the table is the energy and the feistiness that we need. I think if come out and do what we have to do, I think we will win another championship."

"There's no other team that can really stick with us and play with us. We just got to buy into (Patriots coach) Louie's (Alas) system and if we do that then we will win," added Freeman.

This time, it's Freeman's turn to change the Patriots' fortunes in the ABL. They have a date with the Singapore Slingers on Saturday. It would be interesting how he would fare up against this squad composed of center Kyle Jeffers, Marcus Skinner, Filipinos Leo Avenido and Al Vergara and Singaporeans Desmond Oh and Steven Khoo.

"We're going to be whoop their ass. I'm eager to play with these guys and I'm pretty sure they're eager to play with me," he said. "In my first practice, we had a good one and I think the energy is there and everybody's feeding off on it and I feel like we're going to do our thing."

Gametime is set at 4 p.m. at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City and will be shown live on ESPN.

On UP and Perpetual

It's not good to be a fan of a varsity basketball team bearing initials containing U plus P and sports maroon or brown-colored uniforms these days.

With winless records to show, University of the Philippines and Perpetual Help are close to completing their dismal performances in the UAAP and NCAA, respectively.

The Maroons (tough to call them Fighting Maroons when that moniker isn't reflecting on the hardcourt) recently fell to a 0-11 slate following another lopsided loss, this time against Final Four contender Adamson 74-51.

On the other hand, the Altas dropped to 0-9 on Wednesday when they bowed to Jose Rizal University, 66-55.

It's quite a disappointment for both teams considering how they have played solidly in the preseason tournaments.

Everyone was hoping for a Maroon revival after a quarterfinals showing in the Filoil preseason tourney. With the veterans somehow maturing and highly-touted Mike Silungan expected to inject some offensive firepower, expectations were high in Diliman.

In fact, they trained in the United States during the summer and even got a huge sponsor boost from Meralco.

But alas, the hopes of reaching the Final Four for the first time 1997 turned out to be a complete disastrous campaign.

After a 0-2 start, the weird coaching change occurred as former PBA champion coach Boyet Fernandez was appointed as acting coach in lieu of Aboy Castro "taking a leave of absence."

It didn't help that the Maroons encountered three heartbreaking losses: 1.) University of Santo Tomas (when Silungan committed a foul in regulation play with his team up one with two ticks left. The Tigers eventually won in overtime) 2.) National University (wasted a 22-point lead in the third quarter) and again 3.) National University (Diony Hipolito's missed freethrow with two ticks left and NU up one).

Adding insult are the injuries and suspensions: Mark Lopez done for the year with an ACL, Woody Co out with an injured foot, Silungan missed one game due to flu and Alvin Padilla getting suspended twice.

As for Silungan, who was hoped by many to be the team's "savior", his stellar plays in preseason tournaments and the Father Martin Cup events became an afterthought and has somehow became some sort of a mortal player in the UAAP.
Sigh. As some would say, "Lahat na yata ng kamalasan sa basketball, naranasan na ng UP."

As for the Altas, they were able to make waves in the preseason that made them one of the favorites to enter the Final Four of the 86th NCAA basketball tournament.

However, the eligibility issues on Marlon Gomez and Paul Nuillan prior to the start of the season instantly killed momentum of the squad of coach Boris Aldeguer.

Even without the two, Perpetual showed signs that it can be one of the toughest teams to beat in the NCAA when it pushed San Sebastian and Mapua to hard-fought matches only to falter down the stretch.

But since then, it was all struggle for the Las Pinas cagers even with the presence of Arnold Danganan (the league's third leading scorer but has been suspended recently by the league), Jet Vidal and Mark Sumera.

Veteran Raffy Ynion has been forced to play center in Gomez's absence. It hasn't helped that his weight problems are affecting him on the court.

The disappearing act this season has been Chris Elopre. The 5-foot-10 guard showed wily abilities last season but those flashes have somehow disappeared this season.

With both leagues already in the second round of hostilities, it is the only hope of some, particularly students, faculty members, alumni and even non-fans are getting that sympathy for each defeat.

Many are hoping that they could get that elusive first win before the season is done. The question though is: Makukuha nga ba nila?

Notes:

- UP hasn't won a game since August 22, 2009 when then-rookie Mikee Reyes erupted for 22 points in an 83-78 win over La Salle at The Arena in San Juan.

- Since then, the Maroons have lost 15 consecutive games.

- Perpetual hasn't won a game since August 12, 2009 when it beat Emilio Aguinaldo College, 86-79.

- The Altas have since lost 18 straight.

- Before the streak, UPHSD finished the first round with a 3-6 slate.

Marata plays like Tito 'Ricric' as La Salle stuns Ateneo

Somewhere up in the sky, the late Ricric Marata must be proud of his nephew, La Salle's sophomore guard Sam Marata.

Marata made two big shots in the final minutes as the Green Archers came back from nine points down to score a come-from-behind 66-63 win over two-time defending champion Ateneo yesterday in the 73rd UAAP basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The former 2007 Juniors Most Valuable Player for UP Integrated School completed La Salle's amazing rally in the last five minutes by hitting a booming triple off the fastbreak to cut the lead to one (63-62) then drained a top of the key jumper off a screen that put his team ahead, 64-63, with just 1:28 left to play.

The young La Salle cagers, a heavy underdog in this contest, came through with several defensive stops in the last few possessions to end their six-game losing skid against Ateneo dating back to the start of the 2008 season.

"Mukhang galing sa kanya yun. Siguro ginuide niya yung mga tira ko," said Marata, whose uncle, a legendary shooter in the PBA, passed away earlier this year at the age of 45.

Entering this game, the Green Archers also lost nine of the last 11 games against their bitter rivals but those two streaks came to a halt to the delight of half of the 16,566 fans that wore green shirts.

"I don't know what to say, I'm so happy. We were down nine points but the boys showed their heart. It's been two years already (since we last won)," said coach Dindo Pumaren.

Marata and Joshua Webb shared topscoring honors with 12 points each with the former converting all of his four shots from rainbow country. Lanky center Yutien Andrada had six points and seven rebounds while Joseph Tolentino had five points, four rebounds and five assists.

Rookie Jarelan Tampus, a recruit from Letran, was also responsible in the comeback, hitting two baskets off transition that cut down the deficit to 62-57 after falling behind 62-53 before Marata came through in the clutch.

"Sam (Marata) played well with those big shots," said Pumaren, who was a teammate of Marata with the RP team in 1987. "But of course, we owed that to Tampus. He made the difference."

It was a disappointing loss for Ateneo, which made its first eight shots in the fourth period behind Justin Chua but missed its final seven shots. At the same time, it also played paltry defense against what coach Norman Black described as a "scrappy La Salle team."

"We didn't finish strong," said Black. "And it didn't help that Kirk Long fouled out and Eman Monfort went down with cramps in the end."

"But it was the defense that let us down. Things such as not picking up their man on fastbreak, giving up three-point shots and not following around screens," he added.

La Salle won despite a low-scoring, sloppy game that saw each squad turning the ball over 18 times and combined for 45 fouls.

Chua, who delivered in their win against University of Santo Tomas last week, nearly turned into a hero again with 16 points. He had a chance to tie the game on the last possession but muffed a potential game-tying trey and a desperation triple after his miss that ended the game.

As usual, several prominent figures saw the action with business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, newly-appointed Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia and his predecessor Harry Angping, Harbour Centre boss Mikee Romero and Smart Gilas members Rabeh Al-Hussaini, JV Casio and coach Rajko Toroman.

The scores:

Second Game

LA SALLE 66 - Webb 12, Marata 12, Atkins 9, Tampus 6, Andrada 6, dela Paz 5, Tolentino 5, Mendoza 5, Vosotros 3, Villanueva 2, Ferdinand 1, Paredes 0.

ATENEO 63 - Chua 16, Monfort 11, Long 9, Buenafe 7, Salamat 6, Salva 5, Golla 3, Escueta 2, dela Cruz 2, Austria 2, Tiongson 0, Gonzaga 0.

Quarters: 14-15; 26-30; 46-42; 66-63.

Note: This is a raw story that I submitted to the Manila Bulletin just a few minutes ago.

A streak ends in TOP and confusion in the UAAP

Yesterday was another one of those "lagare" days for this writer.

First order of business was to cover the Tournament of the Philippines seventh leg held at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym where the M. Lhuillier Cebu Ninos took on the MP Gensan Warriors.

The Ninos enter the contest with a sense of invincibility with a remarkable 30-game winning streak that catapulted them to the Liga Pilipinas Conference III crown and two TOP leg crowns.

Most of the people who followed this joint tournament of the PBL and Liga expected Cebu to win again. However, the Warriors showed up and surprised everyone.

Center Christian Nicdao, known for his heydays with Far Eastern University in the UAAP in the late-90's and early-2000's, and ex-UE big man Angel Raymundo were able to contain the Cebu big men led by Marlon Basco, Ariel Mepana and Abby Santos, among others.

They led by 13 points on several occasions in the second quarter but as seen in numerous games, kung baga sisiw lang yan sa Ninos. That's because they're used to erasing big leads behind their pressure defense and eventually win those games by lopsided margins.

It looked as though Cebu was on the verge of doing such, erasing an 11-point halftime lead into around five to six points in the third period. But Gensan was just stubborn leaning on Nicdao, Raymundo and a lefty wingman in Jasper Callo and scoring guard John Gonzaga.

Bruce Dacia, who many could recall playing for the San Juan Knights in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association, eventually pulled the Ninos to 70-68 with five minutes left to play but a comeback was never to be.

Guard Jonathan Parreno also entered the fray knocked two crucial triples that put the Warriors away and score a knockout victory over the Cebuano cagers.

Gensan won, 77-72, and Cebu's streak came to an end. From the far end, Ninos assistant Willie Generalao gestured this writer like he was saying, "ganun talaga e." On the nearest end are the Warriors jumping for joy after hacking out a breakthrough win.

The Warriors aren't a great team on paper, lots of unknown names who reside from the Gensan-Sarangani area with some living in Davao, but they play tough every game, giving opponents such as Cebu and PBL teams Cobra, Ani-FCA and Ascof Lagundi a hard time.

Then it was off to the Big Dome.

After seeing the end of a remarkable end in the TOP, it was confusion in the UAAP, particularly the UP Fighting Maroons.

Reports say that Aboy Castro is no longer the coach and that ex-Sta Lucia Realty coach Boyet Fernandez, who was hired as consultant over the weekend, was appointed as his successor.

UP lost 87-81 to University of Santo Tomas in overtime no thanks to a late foul by Mike Silungan with three seconds left that enabled Jeric Teng to hit one freethrow that tied the game at 69-all and UP College of Human Kinetics dean Leilani Gonzalo clarified that....

"Coach Aboy Castro informed us two days ago (Wednesday) that he will go on indefinite leave and assistant coach Potit de Vera will be interim coach," said Gonzalo.

Yes, de Vera, according to tweet and fellow sportswriters coached most of the first half but upon arrival, the former FEU-FERN Baby Tams mentor was standing but near the rear end of the Maroons bench.

And near the scorer's table is Fernandez calling most of the plays like he was steering the Realtors to the 2008 PBA Philippine Cup crown with Kelly Williams, Marlou Aquino and Dennis Espino around.

"No comment," Gonzalo said followed by a laugh when asked if Fernandez is part in the selection with regards to appointment of coaches.

If UP officials claim that Fernandez is still the consultant, then it's quite odd to see a consultant acting like he was the coach.

During one timeout, it was visibly seen on television screens that Fernandez mapped out the plays and even called the shots in inserting players like Silungan, Magi Sison (who played well for the Maroons) and Martin Reyes.

And when the horn sounded, Fernandez consoled a dejected Reyes and gave a few words of encouragement and then during the singing of the UST alma matter song, called a team huddle perhaps saying a few good things to say from this loss.

Those events can say that the former PBA guard, who had stints with Sta Lucia, Pop Cola and Purefoods, is truly the lead man for State U.

Assistant coach Jerry Codinera, who spoke to the media (Fernandez refused to comment) and claimed that for now it will be them (the assistant coaches) and Fernandez (consultant) who will handle the team.

"It's us and coach Boyet who will handle the team for now," said Codinera. "Kami naman, we'll just pitch in and give some inputs and since consultant si coach Boyet, he can also say his thoughts."

It's a PR dilemma for the Maroons at this point. More confusion means more speculation, no thanks to conflicting statements and a dubious decision to make at this early part of the UAAP season.

Abangan na lang kung anu susunod na kabanata.

UAAP Game Notes: July 22, 2010

Some interesting trivia from the UAAP games held earlier. Thanks to Imperium Technology's Pong Ducanes for some of the interesting facts posted here.

UST def. UP, 87-81 (OT)

- The Growling Tigers registered their seventh straight win over the Fighting Maroons since the first round of the 2007 season.

- The last time UP won was a 70-67 win on August 31, 2006 in what would coach Joe Lipa's second to last victory in his second tour of duty with the Diliman-based squad. UST would eventually won the championship that season.

- Jeric Fortuna's eight three-pointers was the most since UAAP statistics were computerized in 2003.

- Apparently, it was the most since National University's Jeff Napa uncorked 10 against La Salle in 2001. Napa, who also had a stint as the school's television courtside reporter a year after, is now the team's assistant coach and mentor of the NU Bullpups in the juniors division.

- Fortuna became the first guard to score 29 points since La Salle's JV Casio, now a member of the Smart Gilas-RP team, did it against UST on August 28, 2008. Fortuna was then a rookie for the Tigers.

- It is also by far the highest single-game scoring output by any player this season.

- UST converted 16 threes, tying Adamson for most triples made since the league began to computerize statistics in 2003. The Falcons did that against NU on September 7, 2006.

FEU def. UE, 91-81

- The Tamaraws beat the Red Warriors for just the third time in the last 11 outings or since the first round of the 2006 season.

- The Tamaraws go 3-0 for the first time since winning the championship in 2005. That team was led by current San Miguel Beermen Arwind Santos, that season's eventual Most Valuable Player.

- UE assistant coaches Elmer Espiritu, Val Acuna and Rudy Lingganay arrived late after the trio played for Cobra Energy Drink against Ani-FCA in a Tournament of the Philippines seventh leg game at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym in Manila. The Ironmen won, 82-80, on a game-winning basket by ex-UE teammate Pari Llagas.

- UE's Lawrence Chongson has lost five of his last six games as coach dating back to Game 1 of last year's finals series with Ateneo.

One cardiac game to remember

It's only fitting that a cardiac finish would cap off a very tight quarterfinals series between Alaska and Barangay Ginebra.

And the Aces, who won a 93-91 thriller in Game 5, should be thankful for Joe Devance and import Diamon Simpson, who both conspired on a big basket amidst a broken play, the distraction of a huge Ginebra crowd, and the shot clock winding down.

That play, where Devance passed the ball against two defenders from the three-point area into an open Simpson inside with five seconds left, coupled with Cyrus Baguio's strip on Eric Menk on the next play concluded perhaps one of the memorable series in league history.

"You know, it's almost sad to me that someone had to lose this basketball game," said Alaska coach Tim Cone. "Obviously, I'm glad it wasn't us but still someone had to lose the series."

"But I don't think you couldn't have a more even series, I don't think I ever seen this tight of a series where every game is decided in the last 30 seconds of the basketball game so you know tough one to lose my heart goes out to them," he added.

Many thought the Aces had the game wrapped up in the palm of their hands when LA Tenorio banged home a three-pointer with 2:15 remaining.

At that point, Tenorio made his 25th point of the game while Simpson, who eventually finished with 24 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks, wrecked the Ginebra frontline inside the shaded lane and Cyrus Baguio, eager to beat his former club after he was dealt for Willie Miller during the conference, buried 5-of-7 threes for 22 points.

But the lead was later cut the four then Simpson nearly turned from hero to goat on two plays. One, he accidentally tipped home a missed shot by Jayjay Helterbrand with 31 seconds left.

Then, he threw an errant baseball pass straight into Helterbrand, who confidently drained a booming triple from the right side of the arc that rocked the 21,062 strong fans on hand to see the game. By then, it was 91-90 with 28.5 ticks left.

If anything Cone had to be glad on the succeeding play was the composure his players showed.

First, Baguio nearly lost the ball then passed it to Tenorio, who nearly lost the ball on a double team. He returned the ball to Baguio. But when the Ginebra defense pressured him, he dished it to Devance, who was quickly approached by two defenders from the right elbow and with the shot clock nearly expiring.

But Devance perhaps thought to hit a quick shot but in a split second dropped the ball to an open Simpson, who made up for his two mistakes earlier by quickly sinking the layup with 5.0 seconds remaining that put Alaska back in the lead - for good.

"Well, it wasn't that great (of a play)," Cone said. "But you know it was a tough play and a tough position, the crowd going wild, I'm trying to call a timeout and they can't see me but you what I like was the composure we showed in the last play."

"I thought that Joe showed great composure catching that ball. He could have fired up a quick shot but still made the extra pass to Diamon for the layup with just seconds to go in the shot clock. He has really just grown in front of our eyes in these last few weeks."

The Kings tried for a last second victory but Baguio came away with a huge steal off Menk and was fouled with 0.1 seconds left. He later split his charities and then reportedly taunted his former team with a few gestures. On the other end there was Helterbrand, on the floor with teammates consoling him and perhaps battling tears after Ginebra was denied of a chance to create another one of its customary comebacks.

"It's a little bittersweet because these kinds of series are the ones you learn to appreciate," said Cone. "I mean these (games) will be the ones you'll remember 10 years from now when you're in a rocking chair talking to your kids. Even though it was only a quarterfinal series, it felt like a championship series."

How memorable this series would be? Four games were close and Games 2 and 4 likewise were close in the last two minutes even though the Aces went up 2-0 before the Kings fired back by winning the next two and had a chance to repeat the same comeback it did in the previous Philippine Cup quarters.

Now that this series is over, Alaska can now look forward to an intriguing best-of-five semis clash with Talk N' Text which starts on Wednesday.

The Aces are banged up and the Tropang Texters, who earned an outright semis seat thanks to a 15-3 record highlighted by a 13-game winning streak, is well rested but Cone hopes to come away with some surprises.

"We are coming off a tough series and we are a little banged up and we had some guys that are just coming back from injuries so they have the huge advantage in the first game or two," Cone said.

"But we just have to battle with them and stick it out and go deeper to our bench and see if we can get some guys who can surprise them but you know Talk N' Text is formidable but we are not afraid of them."

Author Notes: Perhaps this writer should learn from Yogi Berra's famous quote saying, "It's ain't over till the fat lady sings." Well, this writer decided to go back to the media room with 2:15 left thinking that Alaska had it in the game and apparently had to witness all that magic unfolded through the television screen. This was a fitting end to a three-playdate PBA coverage of this writer. This will come out on Tempo tomorrow. Konting edit lang dito especially the sequence of the Simpson basket dahil ang bilis ng pangyayari (had to rely on that YouTube clip that was posted early this afternoon by someone to review the play again).

The Cebu Ninos are for real

For those who doubt how good are the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Cebu Ninos outside of the Philippine Basketball Association, well believe the hype.

In extending their remarkable winning streak to 25 games (not counting those tune-up games against the likes of Smart Gilas and PBA clubs), the Cebuano cagers etched their name into the history books as the first-ever leg champion of the Tournament of the Philippines, the joint venture between the Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas.

The Ninos finally showed what kind of a team they are when they scored a masterful 87-73 victory over the PBL's Ascof Lagundi in the finals of the Manila leg held at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym.

It felt like another title for the M. Lhuillier and coach Yayoy Alcoseba once again showed his stoic but contented smile as his players whooped it up.

For Alcoseba, he felt it was the best game they played since coming over in Manila.

"This was perhaps the best game we played in the leg as seen in the way we played in this finals," said Alcoseba.

Although they swept all three elimination round games, the Ninos showed flashes of rust and sluggishness since playing their last tournament came in the Liga Conference III in November (that completed a rare 21-game sweep).

Still, M. Lhuillier was able to hurdle Ani-FCA (which has its own streak although not everyone would be proud of), Treston Laguna and Ascof Lagundi.

How good are the Ninos even on bad days?

On offense, they move the ball well. The addition of Warren Ybanez (the Finals MVP for the ASEAN Basketball League champion Philippine Patriots and should have made the Barako Coffee roster) solidify the backcourt alongside Stephen Padilla even without wily guard Woodraw Enriquez because of a cervical spine injury he endured after a fall against the Alaska Aces in a tune-up game.

Their big men, Marlon Basco (who is a bit more bulky than his Ginebra days), Abby Santos, Frank Nailon and Nat Cruz, aren't the biggest and athletic Cebu had but they challenge every shot inside on both ends leading to numerous rebounds. As seen against Ascof, they were able to outhustle and forced big men Vic Manuel and Raymond Aguilar to muff inside baskets.

They also have good scorers. Mark Magsumbol is underrated but can hit the jumper and drive inside while Bruce Dacia is a shadow of his former self (high-flying days in the MBA) plus injuries has slowed him down but makes up for it with a decent outside shot.

Perhaps, one key ingredient for this team is the cohesion they have. Cebu isn't as strong this year unlike its Conference III roster (the bench is more deeper back then although the core remains almost the same) has been together even before Liga Pilipinas was formed so almost everyone is familiar with each other.

Back to Padilla, age has somehow slowed down the former pro cager but not his outside shot. He squares up well and shoots consistently. No wonder, he holds the record for the most of threes not only in the MBA and in Liga. And thus far, he carries the TOP record (firing eight against Ani-FCA).

And with the Ninos' huge 19-point deficit reduced to just six entering the fourth quarter, in came Padilla and less than 20 seconds fired a three-pointer from the right elbow.

Later, he made two more from rainbow distance and by then Cebu was ahead by 15 and never looked back.

With this win, are the Ninos the team to beat? There are still teams that are also capable of winning this initial tournament.

Misamis Oriental, Cebu's chief rival, is expected to field a strong lineup (probably with Patrick Cabahug and Khiel Misa there) and Cobra Energy Drink has enlisted three ex-UE Red Warriors who are coming off stints in the ABL (Elmer Espiritu, Val Acuna and Rudy Lingganay) plus bullstrong Pari Llagas and Jorel Canizares.

We'll see. Eight more legs to go.