Ever since the NCAA’s broadcast rights switched from ABS-CBN Sports to GMA via GTV and Heart of Asia, the Benilde Blazers had made a concerted effort to strengthen their squad.
Coming into Season 100, the Blazers just lost Will Gozum, Robi Nayve, Prince Carlos, and Miggy Corteza to graduation and Migz Oczon to Korea. That said, they were replaced by former EAC General Allen Liwag, former San Beda Red Lions Tony Ynot, Justine Sanchez, and Gab Cometa, former ICC Blue Hawk Ian Torres, and former CEU Scorpion Jhomel Ancheta. All of these players had to finish their required one-year residency before playing for the Blazers.
With the NCAA competing with the UAAP in terms of viewership, Benilde has become the league’s version of the UAAP’s DLSU Green Archers.
College free agency is a thing in both leagues. During the Game 2 broadcast, I cringed at Anton Roxas for saying Liwag is young at 23 years old because he isn’t. Roxas is a great part of the NCAA broadcast, but these players are taking too much time in college. LeBron James won his first MVP award at age 24, and the reason why PBA players are still at peak despite being in the middle part of their 30s is because they declare for the draft around the 23 to 27 age range.
Anyway, the reason why I am bringing this up is because it’s not like the Mapua Cardinals are exclusively created in their juniors' basketball lab, but it feels like they have more chemistry than the Blazers have.
Clint Escamis has taken over the leadership role vacated by Warren Bonifacio, Paolo Hernandez, and Adrian Nocum. After a brief stint with the UE Red Warriors, Escamis returned to Mapua where he followed the footsteps of fellow Mapuan Allwell Oraeme, as well as PCU’s Gabby Espinas and Letran’s Rhenz Abando to become NCAA MVP. Randy Alcantara was his coach in the juniors, and upon his return, and no thanks to the Season 99 injury to fellow Red Robin Joaqui Garcia, he has been the team’s go-to guy.
But Escamis’ 30 points in Game 1, after an insane 33-point game to finish off the LPU Pirates in their Final Four matchup, triggered Mapua’s first championship after 33 years.
Mapua desired to win which led to their victory.
Again, it’s not like the Blazers didn’t have the desire to win. But for the lack of a better term, their players were recruited because of their talents. While it would have been awesome for Liwag to win a championship a couple of hours after winning the MVP award, it would have been extra good if he did it with the EAC Generals.
The EAC story is one of the most heartbreaking stories of Season 100 because they could have had a chance to compete for a Final Four spot, their supposed first since joining the league as a guest team in 2009 if only he made his shots against LPU.
The same can be said with the San Beda boys, who sat out the season in which the team finally won their first title since 2018.
For Mapua, they played finals victim to the Letran Knights in Season 97, and for the Red Lions in Season 99. Garcia was part of those teams, including the disastrous Season 98 campaign where the Cardinals started with a 0-8 win-loss record before finishing the elimination round with seven wins in ten games.
The Cardinals finally broke the losing skid against the also-winless Generals, led back then by Allen Liwag.
In some ways, Season 98 proved pivotal for a lot of players. Placing last, this could have prompted Liwag to transfer to the Blazers. If not for the record, Warren Bonifacio, hero of Mapua’s Season 97 run, wouldn’t have fallen to number 55 in the 2023 PBA Draft. Bonifacio could have had the same setup as Letran’s Pao Javillonar in the sense that he’s going to play his final year first before moving to the PBA but instead, he was left unsigned and had to impress scouts while taking his team to victory.
And this is where the rookie MVP season of Clint Escamis happened.
Peter Rosillo may have moved to Letran, but most of the Season 99 players remember the heartache. Cyrus Cuenco and JC Recto, alongside John Jabonete, have the most burden apart from Escamis because they had prominent roles during the Season 99 Finals. Lawrence Mangubat for sure remembers what happened because he was part of the Mapua community. And how about Garcia, who was never the same player after the season-ending ACL injury he suffered at the start of Season 99. With two finals appearances and the dubious distinction shared with Randy Alcantara, the Cardinals are hellbent on ending their 33-year curse.
And even if he’s an outsider, I bet Chris Hubilla is fully aware of what the curse meant to the Mapua community. The former NCAA Juniors Mythical Fiver expressed his desire to move to the UP Fighting Maroons after high school. He then switched to the Letran Knights, before his Mapua decision. I don’t know if college ballers still have to maintain their grades, but there is a reason why UP is one of the best academic schools in the Philippines, and why there are a lot of players who move out of the school rather than move to the school because of their academic deficiencies. As for the Letran Knights, they had a bad Season 99 and I guess it’s better to move to a place where he has the chance to move to the position vacated by Bonifacio.
I have been rambling. When I wrote “After 33 years, it was the entire Cardinals’ desire to win that led to their victory,” it has been more than five paragraphs ago. When I said that Mapua had more chemistry than Benilde had, it was more than ten paragraphs.
But here’s the thing.
Mapua played like a united front while Benilde played like a concerted effort to win a championship. Mapua relied on their desire while Benilde relied on their talents. Even if most of the Cardinals do not know who Benny Cheng is, they have a living embodiment of the 1991 NCAA championship squad in Alcantara.
Nothing screams a lack of chemistry than what we can see in the stats. Mapua has seven players averaging 1 steal and more. Benilde’s Game 1 turnovers (23) are one higher than the combined turnover output of Mapua. Five Mapuans averaged double figures compared to Benilde’s three, and four Benilde players averaged three or more turnovers as compared to Mapua’s one.
And while Escamis averaged just 0.5 rebounds in the series, he also finished the finals with just two turnovers.
Yes, one would argue that Escamis sat out the entirety of Game 2’s second half due to cramps, but isn’t this a good thing if you think about it? There were a lot of players that stepped up and were dragged out of the court. When Escamis had to sit out in the second half, Mangubat, Recto, and Cuenco took turns to create an unsolvable situation. John Jabonete missed Game 2 and Marc Igliane and Yam Concepcion took on the responsibility. Meanwhile, Justine Sanchez turned on his superstar mode in Game 2 but technically, he’s the only Blazer to have a “positive” +/- with zero.
Ultimately, Benilde is like a PBA-backed Philippine Team of the 90s. They may have been chosen for a specific goal, and while they are ready, their preparation is nothing compared to other less talented squads like Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan.
Yes, I said it. If we had Gilas Pilipinas preparations in the 90s, we could have prevailed over the non-Chinese teams of that era.
So yeah, after 33 years, the Mapua Cardinals have finally broken their championship curse.
With that said, I still believe the Benilde Blazers are the team to beat in NCAA S101. Shawn Umali, formerly of the LPU Pirates, is going to replace Mark Sangco. Because of the humiliation, their main objective is to prove to people that they aren’t just contenders on paper. And more than the 25-year championship drought, the Season 100 finish will serve as their fuel to beat the odds.
After breaking the 33-year curse, Mapua is looking to defend their crown. The Cardinals won the seniors basketball crowns in 1949, 1965, 1981, 1990, and 1991. The threat of the Benilde Blazers is there, but the same can be said with Season 99 champions San Beda Red Lions. I don’t know if the LPU will still have their core but the Letran Knights will finally activate the Perpetual Altas transferees. In return, the Perpetual Altas, now backed by the SMC, will parade a bunch of names they acquired from various colleges in the UAAP and NCAA.
The thing working for Mapua though is that they have an intact lineup.
Anyway, congrats, Mapua!