La Salle Greenhills' 'fairy tale' ends in 87th NCAA

"Asa NCAA na po ang LSGH (LSGH is now playing in the NCAA)?", asked a Twitter follower as GMA News Online live tweeted Game 3 of the NCAA Juniors Finals. It has been 33 years since a La Salle team fought for the championship in the NCAA Junior's division. It has also been 56 years since they last won it. Time leads people to forget. And for a moment, it only seems fair that we allow curious spectators to ask such questions. The La Salle Greenhills Greenies returned to the NCAA in 1998 for the College of St. Benilde. Since then, they've only made it to the Final Four four times. Its best finish, at third place, came in 1999, with a team led by Bruce Quebral, Mike Gavino, Mika Vainio and Jino Ferrer. The last time they played in the semifinals was in 2008. Over-achievement Getting to the Final Four was a quest on its own. And so for the Greenies, being in the finals against a reigning back-to-back champion team eying the three-peat is an added bonus. "We've overachieved. For us, it's like we've won already. Just to be able to stretch San Beda, this is the first time any team has stretched San Beda for the past three years. This is a bonus," said CSB-LSGH Management Committee representative Henry Atayde. While the Red Cubs swept the elimination round, the Greenies ended with a 13-5 record for third place. They had to play a knockout game against the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Brigadiers in the step-ladder semis. They beat the Brigadiers, 88-74, to set up another winner-take-all match against second seed Letran Squires. In the game that determined San Beda's foe for the championship, Thomas Torres, Mario Bonleon and Jon Villaruz contributed 73 of the Greenies' points, overwhelming the Squires, 101-91. And so it was set. The boys from Greenhills were to face the boys from Taytay. In Game 1, LSGH dealt SBC its first loss of the season after Andre Paras scored 11 points in the final quarter to grab the first game of the series, 85-82. In Game 2, the Red Cubs bounced back to even up, 74-73. The two teams were tied until the final eight seconds, when Red Cub Daryl Nazareno was sent to the free throw line where he split his charities to win the game. With the Red Cubs sweeping the elimination round, they only needed to win twice against the Greenies, while LSGH needed to beat SBC thrice to grab the crown. Game Four no more In game three, the Arena in San Juan were split into seas of green and red with the San Beda crowd bringing "Game 4 No More" banners, confident that they will bag the crown. The Cubs took the first quarter, 17-13. But more than the score, what hurt LSGH was starting center Angelo Vito going down in the middle of the first quarter with an ACL injury. In the second quarter, the boys in green tried to battle back, with SBC leading only by three, 29-26, at halftime. But in the third quarter, the Cubs outscored the Greenies, 22-14, to post an 11-point lead going into the final period, 51-40. Familiar Foe The Greenies used their defense to force turnovers and try to bring down the lead. But for every spurt they had, the Cubs answered with their own. Torres and the rest of the Greenies attacked the shaded lane to claw back into the game. But the free throw line remained to be La Salle's familiar foe, as the team combined for a mere 59 percent from the line. The bigger picture The surprise success of the Greenies is a positive addition to the foundation the LSGH basketball program is trying to establish. And for coach John Flores, the outcome of their Season 87 campaign is satisfying still. "Well if you think of it in program terms, yes. Of course we were already here. We were hoping to take this game to extend it to Monday. But from a program point of view, it's only our first year here. It's a 3-4 year program so the championship wasn't a part of the package. The plan was to make it to the final four and eventually, slowly get into the finals in a year or two after this year," said Flores. "We wanted to make it to the Final Four. Whatever came after that was just bonus. But of course since we are already here, the expectations were up. It's a character building experience and I hope we can take that experience all the way to next year," Flores added. Flores, who steered the Ateneo Lady Eagles to two championships in 2005 and 2007, now hope to see a change in the culture of LSGH basketball. "Part of our mission-vision was to create a tradition of winning—a winning tradition for La Salle. Not just for a year or two, but continuous and consistent- one that could be sustained." Creating a sustainable, effective program in the juniors division is one thing. But for LSGH-CSB ManCom representative Atayde, the success of La Sallian juniors programs is for a bigger picture. After losing quality players like Martin Reyes, Jino Ferrer, Mika Vainio, Mike Gavino, Mikee Reyes and Bruce Quebral to UP, Jeric Fortuna to UST, and Kiefer Ravena and Nico Salva to Ateneo, the grassroots development hopes to start a pipeline of homegrown talent for the senior teams in the NCAA and the UAAP. "The alumni have started to get involved. This is the first time we've had a crowd like this. This is a start. Now both schools are talking about synergy; Alabang (De La Salle—Zobel) and Greenhills (La Salle Greenhills) are talking about feeding La Salle-Taft and the College of St. Benilde," added Atayde. The end is a beginning When the final buzzer sounded, the Red Cubs rushed to the center court to celebrate. And in one corner of The Arena, Torres buries his head in his assistant coach's chest, his face covered in tears. The young man contributed 49 points in the finals series. He also scored a combined 56 points in the two games of the step ladder format. Andre Paras, the Game One hero, was also seen wiping his tears. Their classmates call out their names for their attention; their parents approach to give words of encouragement and warm embraces. During the game, their youth propels them to do breathtaking, athletic things that make us forget how young they really are. At the end of the game, their youth reminds us of who they really are; they are young men who still break and weep in the face of defeat. The Arena's lights have already been turned off, yet the Greenies were still inside their locker room. Concerned parents crowded the locker room door, waiting for their sons. At The Arena entrance, a hundred more classmates, friends, and family members waited to show the boys the appreciation they truly deserved. They say that for the LSGH Greenies, it could have been a fairytale ending. But perhaps, it actually was. — JVP, GMA News