A missed opportunity

THE Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) Phoenix upset the San Sebastian College Recoletos (SSCR) Golden Stags, 61-55, in the finals of the sulit.ph BBI Men’s Under-25 tournament at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center on Saturday.

SSCR’s only two losses were to OLFU. The first was actually a default because their game coincided with the opening of the ongoing D-League tourney.

A hollow win, some opined. But not so much in the finals where none of the Stags could match up against the Phoenix’s African center Chris Essomba who finished with only eight points but grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked three shots and stole the ball once. Granted Essomba fouled out, but he got all three of the Stags’s bigs in foul trouble, as well.

Jessie Sumoda, JM Calma and Alvin Capobres each had four fouls.

That is three veterans for SSCR Coach Edgar Macaraya. Surprisingly, they didn’t use their young big man Rommel Calahat that much. And

Calahat played very well in the semifinals win that got them to the finals.

OLFU was leading 41-34 going into the final period of play. They shot poorly in the fourth period, knocking down only 6-17 field goal attempts. They made up for it by hitting their free throws, 8-11.

The problem for the Stags is that they also shot poorly in the fourth period when they made only seven of 15 field goal attempts and four of 10 free throws. Their two turnovers could possibly be inconsequential as OLFU were unable to capitalize on them. It did though chew up some clock and they missed two offensive chances.

So, the Phoenix took home the trophy. On one hand, I am happy for Fatima. On the other hand, I feel bad for San Sebastian.

I feel that for all the talent they have had in the last couple of seasons, they could have broken into the Final Four or even competed for a title had they one, been intact with others

not transferring for one reason the other; and two, having these battle-tested veterans in Allyn Bulanadi, Alvin Capobres, RK Ilagan comes at a great cost—years and maturity. As it is now, the next season is their last in college before they give the pros a try.

One can say that the BBI U25 crown isn’t the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Philippine Collegiate Champions League, Filoil or even the D-League. I disagree with that. For the most part, they were the one team that fielded their NCAA stars. Other squads from Ateneo, La Salle and University of the Philippines featured mainly Team B players.

I feel you owe it to win anything you compete in. Sure, you need to give exposure to the players in order to develop them. I get that. For some, this might be the closest they will win something because they still have to compete against the moneyed-machines like San Beda and College of Saint Benilde.

And there is something else, too.

Yes, OLFU had a tall African center that gave the team fits and matchup problems in the BBI finals. But that begs the question—why didn’t they get one, too?

In my opinion, the reason why the NCAA got rid of foreign players was to break the stranglehold of San Beda on the men’s title which they have won 11 in the last 13 years. It is a myopic look at basketball. Their success in finding foreign centers in Sam Ekwe, Sudan Daniel, Ola Adeogun and Donald Tankoua is a large reason why they have dominated the NCAA.

Sure, other schools did get foreign players. They

experienced varying degrees of success, but that was either the ones they got weren’t very good or the coach wasn’t the best guy to lead them to the top.

It is sad because I feel had they also had a reinforcement during the Calvin Abueva years, they might have won another title. They’ve also had good players since then but they could never put it together.

I think that having a talented foreign studentathlete is a huge plus. But it isn’t the only overriding factor.

Case in point...Mapua. They had Allwell Oraeme, the two-time Most Valuable Player. But they didn’t surround him right away with top talent nor top coaching.

When San Beda defeated Lyceum in consecutive finals matchups, the foreign players somewhat canceled each other out. The difference is, San Beda had the studs in Robert Bolick Jr. and Jayvee Mocon. Lyceum only had CJ Perez.

Ateneo won five straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines titles without a foreign player. When they won again two years ago, the foreign player was a role player. It was only this last season where they had a stud of a foreign player. Yet, they needed every hand on deck to win.

I feel bad for this Stags team. They have been through so much. So much. And I enjoyed their breakneck pace basketball. Patay kung patay basketball. I would have wanted to see Bulanadi, Capobres, Ilagan and company take home a winner’s medal.

But hope springs eternal for them, right?