The return to watching them Tigers roar live.

Last Saturday, on a rainy day across entire metropolis with Typhoon Lando bound to hit Luzon bringing heavy rains and gusty winds over the horizon. It was an opportunity for me to do something I haven't done in the last three years. Watch my beloved UST Growling Tigers live in action. 

The last time I watched the game, I witnessed my beloved Alma Mater lose in a two game sweep in their best of three finals series. As the victor celebrated a fifth straight championship. Since then, I was limited to watching the games on the television. Along that period, I've seen them come back for another crack on the title. But falling short in a epic three game series that featured a brother vs brother match-up. Then the following season, they fell down from heaven to a tough season which saw them miss the train to the Final Four.

Now, on that stormy Saturday afternoon in Pasay, I was back in the venue rooting for my Alma Mater. It was my first UST game since I became an alumnus of the university, and the first game I watched where their opponent is not named Ateneo nor La Salle.

The weather never bothered me to get to the game. The only thing I had to deal with along the way was my wet shoe as I went with me trip from home to the Mall of Asia Arena.

But before I get to see the Tigers play once again, there was the game between Ateneo and Adamson. The Soaring Falcons fought hard in that game, but the Blue Eagles found the breaks in the end game to seal the victory.

Then came the moment of truth, it's game time for the Growling Tigers of España. They faced the National University Bulldogs. The lone team that they lost to in the first round of the tournament. Where they lost by a solitary point. It was their chance to get back from the defeat and pick up another victory. 

Of course with every UST game, the men on the floor are fueled by a boisterous crowd clad in yellow. Supporting the squad with all their heart and soul. From the place going crazy every time they score a basket to the Go USTe! chant which never fails to fuel up the crowd. The crowd makes every single game special.

As the ball game played along, it was a defensive oriented game with both teams picking it up on the defensive end. The Tigers had full control for most of the first three quarters and were poised to get the victory heading into the fourth quarter. But the resilient Bulldogs had an answer and they managed to complete a comeback to take the lead. But the Tigers had the counter response late in the ball game. As they came up with a 65-57 victory, and became the only team so far this season to beat the other 7 teams that make up the league. UST's balanced scoring made the difference in this game. The bench players came through all game long, while the leading men had the final blow to seal the victory.

Photo ©Karl Carandang

For me, it was a great feeling to see the Tigers win the game as I watched it live. To tag along with the Go USTe! chants. Singing the UST Hymn once again in victory. Getting to see some of my friends along the way. Some of which I haven't seen for quite awhile now. It was also the second victory for UST whenever I get to watch the game live at the arena. Which brings my record when watching it live at 2-3 (all three losses came at the hands of Ateneo).

The Tigers have been impressive this season. They overachieved and went beyond expectations where pundits in the preseason saw them miss the Final Four train once again. Although as I am writing this, they lost to the Blue Eagles to bring their record to 8-2 on the season. They have still done a great job of getting to this point in the season. We have two legitimate candidates for MVP in Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquioag. Karim Abdul, though not yet in peak condition is getting there. Then the bench has been coming along well with guys like Marvin Lee, Mario Bonleon, Louie Vigil, Jamil Sheriff, Kent Lao, among others. Of course, gotta give a ton of credit to head coach Bong Dela Cruz. Last season, he had the task of succeeding the fiery Pido Jarencio and fell short on the goal. Now, that he got his second take on calling the shots, he's responded well. If this great season of UST basketball continues, this could be the year we could see the title return to España after a nine year wait.

Returning to see the Tigers roar in UAAP basketball will always be a special moment. And if it permits (especially resource-wise), this will not be the last time this season I will get to see the Tigers roar in action live at the arena.

#GoUSTe! Viva Santo Tomas!

A championship series to remember. Well played Tigers and Archers.

I'm writing this blog entry with an heavy heart. After all that happened today and all the heartbreak and bittersweet thoughts that I have over the past couple of hours, as the basketball season of UAAP Season 76 all came down to one game. As the UST Growling Tigers battled with the De La Salle Green Archers for the right to be crowned the new UAAP men's basketball champion in 6 years.

But before we got to that moment, let's look back at the events that led to this moment. 

UST came in as the 4th seed in the Final Four after finishing 9-5 in the elimination round where they were hampered with injuries and tough losses. But they peaked at the right moment after they picked up a huge win over the FEU Tamaraws in double overtime, then surviving three knockout games which included a win that dethroned the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles to end the elimination round, and defeating the top-seeded NU Bulldogs twice to become the 1st #4 seed to knock out a #1 seed in the UAAP Final Four thus returning to the Finals for the second consecutive season.

As for La Salle, they struggled in the first round of eliminations finishing only at 3-4, but they found their groove in the second round as they finished with a 7-0 sweep to give them a 10-4 record, since they were tied for 1st place with NU and the FEU Tamaraws, NU got the top seed due to the quotient system. So the Archers and Tamaraws battled for 2nd place and a twice-to-beat advantage in their Final Four matchup. La Salle won that game handily, then when the Final Four began, the Tamaraws fought hard, however the Archers pulled off the breaks to book their ticket to the Finals for the first time since 2008.

Once the dust settled, UST and La Salle were left standing for all the marbles. One thing that made this matchup special is the battle of the Teng brothers as older brother Jeric of UST battles his brother Jeron of La Salle in what would be their first and last battle in the UAAP Finals. Aside from that, it's the battle of the coaches with very contrasting personalities as the emotionally charged Pido Jarencio of UST went to war against the calm and calculated Juno Sauler of La Salle.

In Game 1, UST won by a solitary point 73-72 after Karim Abdul blocked the possible game winner of LA Revilla in the winding moments of the game. While in Game 2, La Salle won by 7 points 77-70 led by their twin towers of Arnold Van Opstal and Norbert Torres which set up this moment. Game 3 between the Tigers and Archers, one game for all the marbles.

As the game went along, both teams played with everything they have. The Tigers started hot in the first half while the Archers struggled to score baskets. King Tiger Jeric Teng and Karim Abdul led the charge for the Tigers in the first half and the Tigers went in with 8 point lead at halftime. Then in the second half, the Tigers kept on scoring big against the Archers, but everything changed as the Archers mad a furious rally to take the lead before John Sheriff bailed the Tigers out with a shot at the buzzer to keep the lead heading into the fourth. In the 4th quarter, both teams traded baskets. With the game tied at 65, the Tigers had a chance to win with 6 seconds left. But Aljon Mariano, missed the shot. Thus we went into overtime. Fatigue came into play as both teams struggled to score baskets. Then Jeric Teng gave the Tigers a two point lead with over a minute to go. Jeron Teng got into the lane and drew the foul where he split his free throws but Mariano who got the rebound turns the ball over setting up a clutch jumper by Almond Vosotros to give the Archers a one point lead. Then LA Revilla split his free throws to extend the lead to 2 for La Salle. The Tigers had their chances to tie or win the game. But Abdul missed on a tough trey as the Archers survived and won the game 71-69. The Archers win the title for the first time since 2007 and La Salle coach Juno Sauler did what UST coach Pido Jarencio pulled off in 2006 by winning the title as a rookie coach in the UAAP.

It was an emotional moment, as both the Teng brothers went through a lot of emotions, especially Jeric Teng who played out his final game in a Tigers uniform in the UAAP and the fact that he will not walk away with the championship. Jeron would win the Finals MVP trophy and had some nice words for his older brother. One special moment after the game was when the runner-up trophy was given to UST, the Lasallian faithful in attendance went on to cheer "Go USTe!" and when La Salle got their championship trophy, the Thomasian faithful went on to cheer "Animo La Salle!". Well this shows, that the DLSUST friendship is alive and indeed true.

 Photo ©InterAKTV

It's an heartbreaking yet bittersweet moment for myself, heartbreaking with the fact that I will not get to experience the celebration of a championship for UST as a student, added to the fact that I wasn't watching the game live at the Mall of Asia Arena which meant that I wasn't able to watch a single game this UAAP season. While, it's bittersweet since I said to myself that even if La Salle wins the title. I would still be happy for them. 

At the end of the day though, it was indeed a championship series to remember, and I will always be proud to go all in for the BLACK GOLD, BLACK WHITE!

Congratulations to the De La Salle Green Archers, you deserve the championship.

A big kudos to the UST Growling Tigers, you've been through a lot of challenges this season and you made it a series to remember. To the graduating players Jeric Teng and Clark Bautista we will miss you putting up a UST jersey in the UAAP.

All hope is not lost though, we still have the chance to defend our PCCL title this year.
But for now, UAAP basketball for 2013 draws to a close.

Go USTe! Animo La Salle! Thank you for a great series.
K-Smoove

Rise to the occasion.

My recent illness the past couple of days has been keeping me on the shelf, as much as I tried to come to school to finish the week off, the illness still bugs me today. Even so, I'm writing this entry today to regain my confidence back and to write again after a long hiatus due to my schedule loaded with a lot of schoolwork. Besides, I'm getting better with every hour.

Picking up from where I left off, the journey through this whirlwind of a semester went through a massive detour once the results of the preliminary examinations came out last month, and it wasn't a pretty sight as the struggles I endured during the first half of the semester finally showed up. Despite the setback, there is still another half of the semester to bounce back and recover. I'm not giving up and will give everything I can to finish the semester strong so that we can move forward into taking up practicum at a tourism establishment.

In addition, once the preliminary examinations were done, my training resumed for the competition at hand which is the Final Round of the 5th PHILTOA Tourism Quiz Bee. The bad weather prior to the competition took out most of my training time as class suspensions came along the way. But, I just had enough training to get me prepared for the big day. Then on September 7, it all came down to one afternoon at the SMX Convention Center as I competed with 10 other contestants in the Final Round. I was happy that my family and friends were there to support me in the competition. It was a tightly contested battle, the questions as expected were pretty tough especially those involving manual computations. Apparently, I almost won the event. However, I ended up in 2nd Place since the champion was able to answer a difficult question which was worth more points. Despite that, I'm happy with what I achieved in this competition, especially the fact that last year, I didn't made it to the Final Round and in the semi-finals this year, I barely made it through the Top 10. To quote Mr. Cesar Cruz, PHILTOA President: "Bumawi 'tong bata na to." "This kid came back." The following day, I came back to receive the award and winnings that came along with the victory.

Photo ©Karl Carandang

With the competition through, it caps off my quiz bee competition run for the semester. As my last tour of duty for the team will continue into the next semester. More than a week later, I was given the chance to give back in what the college has given me over the past two year as I was given the privilege to be the quizmaster in the Tourism Quiz Bee competition in our college. It was also an opportunity for me to share my experiences to the contestants. It was a great feeling for me, that I get to be on the other end of quiz bee competitions where I got to ask the questions instead of answering them.

Last week, three months of blood, sweat, tears and thinking caps came down to one week as the THORC Week (Thesis week) came along. The work everyone put into the past three months came down to this week which included the poster presentation and the thesis defense. Our group came through BIG throughout the week as we won third place in the Best Group Presentation category and fifth place in the Best Paper category. Afterwards, we started working on making adjustments to our paper and put it into journal format.

Photo ©Kymie Constante

In the UAAP, the UST Growling Tigers are back in the Final Four as they pulled off a huge victory on the last day of the elimination round against the defending champions Ateneo Blue Eagles with a 82-74 win. The win ended Ateneo's title defense as their five-peat championship streak is snapped and they will miss the Final Four for the first time in 14 years. The Tigers will now face the top seeded NU Bulldogs who enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. In the other bracket, the FEU Tamaraws and the DLSU Green Archers will battle in a virtual best of three as the first game will determine who will have the twice to beat advantage.

The semester is winding down, and in a couple of weeks, we'll be heading for our practicum. Graduation shots to be taken soon. We're coming to the conclusion of what has been a great ride. Better bring everything I got, and lay it all on the line. Rise to the occasion as they say, it's time to put into action.

Rise to the occasion.

18 days to go until NBA Global Games Philippines 2013

K-Smoove

CAMPEONE! UST GROWLING TIGERS: 2012 PCCL CHAMPIONS

UST Growling Tigers

2012 PCCL CHAMPIONS

Photo ©GMA News Online

Last Friday, 57 days after suffering a bitter defeat in the UAAP Finals. The UST Growling Tigers got their revenge on the the team they lost to in the UAAP Finals this year, the Ateneo Blue Eagles as for the first time ever the Growling Tigers are the "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" and the "BEST COLLEGIATE TEAM in the PHILIPPINES" this year as they win in the 2012 Philippine Collegiate Champions League Finals in Game 3 of the Finals series 81-76 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City, taking the Finals series 2-1. Their win in the PCCL brought cheers to the Thomasian community who came out once again in full force at the Ynares Sports Arena and the Growling Tigers never disappointed the strong contingent in YELLOW, bringing them something to celebrate, after their tough defeat in the UAAP a few weeks back.

Jeric Teng led the Growling Tigers in Game 3 scoring 13 of his game-high 22 points in the critical fourth quarter, Kevin Ferrer added 21 points while Jeric Fortuna added 11 points in his final game in a UST Growling Tigers uniform.

Kiefer Ravena and Ryan Buenafe led the Blue Eagles with 20 points each, while Greg Slaughter who played his final game in a Blue Eagles uniform added 11 points.

After the game, in a show of sportsmanship. Karim Abdul traded jerseys with Slaughter and wore it as a tribute to the battles these two men faced in the last two years.

Teng was named the Finals MVP of the tournament, while Fortuna and Karim Abdul were named in the Mythical Five alongside Teng and Ateneo's Ravena and Slaughter. While UST Head Coach Pido Jarencio was named Coach of the Year.

The Growling Tigers took home the Manuel V. Pangilinan Perpetual Trophy which they will keep for one whole year, as well as a replica of the trophy, and P700,000 worth of prizes for the school.

"Nakabawi din sa kanila." - Jeric Teng

"It's nice to play our last game for UST with a championship." - Jeric Fortuna

"I've always wanted to have his (Slaughter) jersey." - Karim Abdul

"This one's for the UST community and the people who supported us all along."  - Coach Pido Jarencio

Box score:

UST (81) - Teng 22, Ferrer 21, Fortuna 11, Abdul 8, Bautista 7, Daquioag 6, Afuang 4, Mariano 2, Hainga 0, Pe 0, Lo 0

Ateneo (76) - Ravena 20, Buenafe 20, Slaughter 11, Salva 9, Elorde 7, Tiongson 5, Sumalinog 3, Chua 1, Golla 0, Gonzaga 0

Yes! The Growling Tigers cap off 2012 with a BANG! A National Championship to cap off the careers of the two graduating players for the Growling Tigers in "The Captain" Jeric Fortuna and Melo Afuang. It is also a prelude of what is to come for the Growling Tigers next year as they will move on to preparations for UAAP Season 76 with a virtually intact core led by Jeric Teng, Karim Abdul, Aljon Mariano, Clark Bautista and Kevin Ferrer.

For now, the Thomasian community can now savor the taste of victory the have long been waiting for to happen. Finally, as a Thomasian, I can savor a victory in basketball. After the bitter defeat in the UAAP Finals, I am very happy and delighted for not only these guys, but also to all my Thomasian PEEPS. FINALLY! We are the CHAMPIONS! With the victory, my FAITH in Philippine collegiate basketball has been RESTORED!

CAMPEONE!
K-Smoove

One win away from payback!

The Finals of the 2012 Philippine Collegiate Champions League tipped off today at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City, the Finals this year features two teams who battled in the UAAP Finals this year. The UST Growling Tigers and the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

For the Growling Tigers, it was a shot for redemption as they enter the PCCL Finals for the first time in the history of the tournament and going up against the team they lost to in the UAAP Finals, the Blue Eagles who aim to continue their long dominance in Philippine collegiate basketball.

However in Game 1 of the Finals today, the Growling Tigers drew first blood as they defeated the Blue Eagles 82-76. 

The Growling Tigers were led by Kevin Ferrer who scored 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on 9-9 shooting from inside the arc including a dunk which threw me out my seat with joy. It was a balanced scoring effort for the Tigers as many players Melo Afuang, Karim Abdul, Jeric Teng, Aljon Mariano, Clark Bautista (who came in at the arena from UST in the 3rd quarter) and Jeric Fortuna (who was riddled with foul trouble) all contributed to the victory. The Tigers also played without head coach Pido Jarencio who was out with the german measles and is questionable for Game 2 on Thursday. Assistant coach Estong Ballesteros called the shots for the Tigers in Jarencio's absence.

The Tigers are now up 1-0 in the best of three finals series and can win their first PCCL Championship in Game 2 on Thursday, 4pm once again at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City and will be on live telecast on Studio 23. Prior to the game, the FEU-Diliman Baby Tamaraws will face off against the San Beda Red Cubs at 2pm.

"Gusto naming bumawi, ito yung payback namin." - Kevin Ferrer

Box score:
UST (82) - Ferrer 18, Abdul 12, Teng 12, Mariano 11, Afuang 10, Fortuna 9, Daquioag 4, Vigil 2, Pe 2, Bautista 2

Ateneo (76) - Buenafe 15, Tiongson 13, Slaughter 12, Gonzaga 12, Ravena 11, Salva 8, Elorde 3, Golla 2, Pessumal 0, Chua 0, Porter 0, Capacio 0


Meanwhile, the San Beda Red Lions finish third in the PCCL for the second straight season as they defeated the Southwestern U Cobras 64-56 , Kyle Pascual and Art dela Cruz led the Red Lions with 14 and 12 points respectively while limiting SWU's "King Cobra" Ben Mbala to 16 points after scoring a PCCL-record 41 points in their game against UST.

Now the Tigers are one win away from exacting revenge against the team that broke the hearts of the Thomasian community last month in the UAAP. The entire Thomasian community as shown all-year long will be there to give their prayers and show their support for these players. I can feel it, we all can feel it! The time is now! Why not wait for next year when it can be done now! and the PCCL championship will be a way to cap off the collegiate careers of "The Captain" Jeric Fortuna and Melo Afuang. I'm really hoping, it all ends on Thursday.

"Well I could not write a full breakdown of the game, because I started watching the game in the second half. My apologies for that."

KEEP CALM and PAYBACK will be SERVED on THURSDAY!
Go USTe! One for UST! Viva Santo Tomas!
K-Smoove