Sporting Chance - Joaquin M. Henson

St. Benilde’s destiny

It wasn’t supposed to happen. There was no way that College of St. Benilde, on its third year of probation as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school, could win the league’s 76th senior men’s basketball championship this season.

Experts predicted either Jose Rizal College or the University of Perpetual Help-Rizal to capture the crown.

St. Benilde wasn’t even considered a darkhorse. Were the Blazers in the race at all, skeptics wondered.

Three years ago, the NCAA Board accepted St. Benilde’s application to join the league but placed the school on probation. Because St. Benilde is part of the La Salle system, some NCAA schools didn’t like the idea of cavorting with the enemy. Within the NCAA, the enemy is the rival University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) where La Salle plays.

A condition the NCAA Board imposed on St. Benilde is the Blazers couldn’t use green as their dominant uniform color. That’s because La Salle’s dominant jersey color is green in the UAAP. So the Blazers had to mix black, white, and green to comply.

In its first year, St. Benilde was the NCAA’s whipping boy. The Blazers won only three games the entire season under coach Bong Go. St. Benilde also didn’t make it to the Final Four last season.

Dong Vergeire, a cousin of the Pumaren brothers, took over the coaching chores from Go this year. Vergeire used to be Aric del Rosario’s assistant at the University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP and once called the shots for San Beda College in the NCAA. He almost didn’t get the job as there was clamor from some La Salle alumni for Virgil Villavicencio to make a coaching comeback.

Before the season began, the NCAA Board nearly ruled half of the Blazers ineligible. The issue was whether or not to consider the National Capital Region Athletic Association (NCRAA) a rival league lke the UAAP. Several Benilde players had seen action in the NCRAA. It came down to a vote and St. Benilde barely escaped the axe. A single vote upheld the eligibility of the players in question. If the vote had gone against St. Benilde, it would’ve been a nightmarish debut for Vergeire.

Then the fireworks started. St. Benilde got off on the wrong foot anºd slumped to a woeful 0-3 start. The Blazers finished the first round with a 3-4 record.

Lady Luck smiled on the Blazers when St. Benilde’s crucial match against Perpetual Help in the second round was postponed because of a storm. The delay allowed the Blazers to peak in time for the game against the Altas. A loss would’ve relegated St. Benilde to No. 4 in the standings and a scary matchup against favorite Jose Rizal in the Final Four. As it turned out, St. Benilde clinched the No. 3 spot and faced the Altas in the semis. Despite a twice-to-beat advantage, No. 2 Perpetual Help lost two in a row to St. Benilde. No. 4 San Sebastian College, meanwhile, repulsed Jose Rizal in the other semis pairing.

That set the stage for a San Sebastian-St. Benilde best-of-three duel for the title.

The Blazers edged the Stags, 66-64, in Game 1 and bagged the title on a 74-61 decision in Game 2. The sweep was hardly expected. It seemed like the Blazers were destined to win.

In the UAAP this season, La Salle faced a similar situation. The Archers also weren’t picked to win the championship but the Tafters did the impossible and sank Far Eastern University in two straight for their third straight crown.

Bro. Rolly Dizon, President of both La Salle and St. Benilde, couldn’t be happier. La Salle schools swept the seniors basketball titles for both men and women in the UAAP and NCAA this year. When soothsayers forecast a losing season for the Archers and Blazers, Bro. Rolly refused to be swayed by the doomsday talk. He never buckled.

Like Bro. Rolly, Henry Atayde – St. Benilde’s representative to the NCAA Board – never lost hope. It was a rocky road to the title but the Blazers got there just the same.

Atayde ecstatically recalled the turn of events. "From one problem to another," he said. "Half the team almost got disqualified before the season. Then we had that 0-3 start. We got lucky because of the postponement of the Perpetual game – it gave us a chance to peak. But we had to beat Perpetual twice in the Final Four and they had to beat us only once."

Atayde said the Blazers’ biggest strength is teamwork. "There are no superstars – we play like a unit," he continued. "The guys work hard and never give up. We’re proud of them."

Atayde said two of St. Benilde’s players – Mark Magsumbol and Sunday Salvacion – were invited to try out for the Osaka Health Clinic team in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). Since Osaka will be beefed up by the Archers, Atayde said inviting the two Blazers was a sign of recognition that St. Benilde has come into its own.

On the day St. Benilde clinched the NCAA title, La Salle celebrated its UAAP victory on the Taft campus. The Blazers didn’t join in the Archers revelry – they had their own whooping up to do.

La Salle alumni are now talking of the ultimate showdown – a "Dream Green Game" between the Archers and Blazers. You can just imagine the smile on Bro. Rolly’s face.