Host school | De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde | |||||||||||||||
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Duration | September 18 to 22 | |||||||||||||||
Arena(s) | Araneta Coliseum | |||||||||||||||
Finals MVP | Yousif Aljamal | |||||||||||||||
Winning coach | Koy Banal (1st title) | |||||||||||||||
Semifinalists |
Letran Knights Mapúa Cardinals | |||||||||||||||
TV network(s) | Studio 23 and TFC | |||||||||||||||
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Duration | September 18 to 20 | |||||||||||||||
Arena(s) | Araneta Coliseum | |||||||||||||||
Finals MVP | Ryan Buenafe | |||||||||||||||
Winning coach | Raymond Valenzona (2nd title) | |||||||||||||||
Semifinalists |
San Beda Red Cubs JRU Light Bombers | |||||||||||||||
TV network(s) | Studio 23 and TFC | |||||||||||||||
The NCAA Season 82 basketball tournaments are the tournaments of the Philippines National Collegiate Athletic Association for basketball at the 2006–07 season. The tournaments are divided into two divisions: the Juniors tournament for male high school students, and the Seniors tournament for male college students.
Losing only one game against the PCU Dolphins, the San Beda Red Lions only suffered one loss to finish first in the elimination round. San Beda's Nigerian center Samuel Ekwe won Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. PCU and the Letran Knights were tied for second place; the Dolphins won the second-place playoff to seize the #2 seed and the twice-to-beat advantage. San Beda dispatched fourth-seed Mapua Cardinals in the semifinals, and the Dolphins qualified to the Finals for the third consecutive time by beating the Knights in their own semifinal. The Red Lions and the Dolphins exchanged blowout wins in the first two games of the Finals; in the deciding third game, San Beda won their first NCAA men's basketball championship since 1978, Yousif Aljamal was named Finals MVP.
In the juniors division, the San Sebastian Staglets swept the San Beda Red Cubs, 2-0, to take their second title, as Ryan Buenafe won Finals MVP honors.
Team | College | Coach |
---|---|---|
Letran Knights | Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) | Louie Alas |
Benilde Blazers | De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde (CSB) | Caloy Garcia |
JRU Heavy Bombers | José Rizal University (JRU) | Ariel Vanguardia |
Mapúa Cardinals | Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT) | Horacio Lim |
PCU Dolphins | Philippine Christian University (PCU) | Joel Dualan |
San Beda Red Lions | San Beda College (SBC) | Koy Banal |
San Sebastian Stags | San Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R) | Raymund Valenzona |
Perpetual Altas | University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (UPHSD) | Bai Cristobal |
Former UP Fighting Maroons basketball player and Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Jun Bernardino assumes the role of basketball commissioner for the season. [1]
On a report published on June 12, it was reported that JRU Heavy Bombers coach Cris Calilan, part of the 1972 champion team (JRU's last championship) resigned from the team and took most of the players with him. [2]
To prevent allegations of game-fixing, the Management Committee asked for the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to thwart efforts of such activities. [3]
All of the elimination round games after Opening Day will be held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex at Manila. [4]
New coaches are Raymund Valenzona of the San Sebastian Stags, and Ariel Vanguardia of JRU. Valenzona is a son of retired coach Turo Valenzona, while Vanguardia who was tasked to replace former coach Cris Calilan, who left the team. San Beda Red Lions coach Koy Banal would be on his first full season as coach of the Red Lions. [5]
On June 22, PCU Dolphins head coach Junel Baculi resigned for health reasons. He will be replaced by Joel Dualan on an acting capacity. [6] Management Committee (MANCOM) chairman Bernardo Atienza of CSB clarified on an interview broadcast during the opening ceremonies that a rumoured seven-game suspension for Baculi for using indecent language in a PCU game on a tune-up league was untrue.
Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | San Beda Red Lions | 13 | 1 | .929 | — | Twice-to-beat in the semifinals |
2 | PCU Dolphins | 10 | 4 | .714 [a] | 3 | |
3 | Letran Knights | 10 | 4 | .714 [a] | 3 | Twice-to-win in the semifinals |
4 | Mapúa Cardinals | 7 | 7 | .500 | 6 | |
5 | Perpetual Altas | 5 | 9 | .357 | 8 | |
6 | JRU Heavy Bombers | 4 | 10 | .286 [b] | 9 | |
7 | San Sebastian Stags | 4 | 10 | .286 [b] | 9 | |
8 | Benilde Blazers (H) | 3 | 11 | .214 | 10 |
NBI agents were present in the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, monitoring the basketball games. Rumours still persist that there were still efforts of game fixing in the games. The suspects "resurfaced" during the first round game between the Blazers and the Heavy Bombers, the day where the agents were supposedly absent. [7]
Results on top and to the right of the dashes are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left of it are second-round games.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red Lions | 12 | 2 | 13 | 27 | 54 |
Knights | 21 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 43 |
Letran and PCU ended tied for second place as both teams having an identical 10-4 records, as a result a playoff game for the #2 seed and the twice to beat advantage at the semifinals that goes along with it was held, leading to a de facto first game of a best-of-three series.
September 8
4:00 p.m. |
Letran Knights | 62–67 | PCU Dolphins |
Scoring by quarter: 13–12, 9–21, 12–19, 28–15 | ||
Pts: Mark Balneg 15 | Pts: Gabby Espinas 19 | |
PCU wins the twice to beat advantage |
After a tightly contested first quarter, the Dolphins went on a rampage, posting an eighteen-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. With increased taunting from both sides, the Knights mounted a furious comeback, trimming the lead to one point thanks to Mark Balneg's 6–1 run. Gabby Espinas made a driving lay-up with 39 seconds left to increase PCU's lead to three points. Aaron Aban missed a three-point and had to foul Espinas, but he made both free-throws to clinch PCU the #2 seed. [8]
Semifinals (Nos. 1 & 2 have twice-to-beat advantage) | Finals ( Best-of-three series) | |||||||||
1 | San Beda | 55 | ||||||||
4 | Mapúa | 51 | ||||||||
1 | San Beda | 71 | 50 | 68 | ||||||
2 | PCU | 57 | 72 | 67 | ||||||
2 | PCU | 72 | ||||||||
3 | Letran | 50 | ||||||||
San Beda and PCU have the twice-to-beat advantage. They only have to win once, while their opponents, twice, to progress.
September 13
2:00 p.m. |
San Beda Red Lions | 55–51 | Mapúa Cardinals |
Scoring by quarter: 15–13, 7–16, 16–11, 17–11 | ||
Pts: Yousif Aljamal 20 | Pts: dela Peña, Gonzales, 11 each | |
San Beda wins series in one game |
San Beda started tentatively with the match but managed to lead early at 10-4 with a Sam Ekwe put-back. After that, the Red Lions offense sputtered, which the Cardinals took advantage of racing to a 7-point lead at the end of the half. The Red Lions managed to crawl back to within two at the end of the third and it was one frustration after another before San Beda equalized late into the fourth period with free throws from rookie Pong Escobal. The Red Lions grabbed the lead for good after a three-pointer from Menor and survived some late game heroics from the Cardinals who came to within a point before good defense from San Beda and a costly Mapua passing error sealed the Cardinals' fate with 4 seconds remaining. [9]
September 13
4:00 p.m. |
PCU Dolphins | 72–50 | Letran Knights |
Scoring by quarter: 16–8, 22–17, 13–19, 21–6 | ||
Pts: Gabby Espinas 16 | Pts: Boyet Bautista 16 | |
PCU wins series in one game |
PCU and Letran managed to trade baskets early in the game but the Dolphins played better basketball as they managed to score uncontested layups. The Knights managed to cut the lead into two points early in the third quarter but the Dolphins answered back and closed out the game, 72-50. [9]
The Dolphins are in their third consecutive Finals appearance; they defeated the Perpetual Altas in 2004 under coach Loreto Tolentino, lost to the Letran Knights in 2005 with Junel Baculi at the helm, and are now facing the San Beda Red Lions.
The Red Lions, on the other hand, are in their first Finals appearance since 1997, where they were defeated by the Rommel Adducul-led San Sebastian Stags. They've last tasted the championship in 1978, with Chito Loyzaga as team captain.
September 18
4:00 p.m. |
San Beda Red Lions | 71–57 | PCU Dolphins |
Scoring by quarter: 20–17, 10–17, 20–5, 21–18 | ||
Pts: Pong Escobal 19 | Pts: Jayson Castro 16 |
September 22
3:30 p.m. |
San Beda Red Lions | 68–67 | PCU Dolphins |
Scoring by quarter: 15–19, 21–11, 25–14, 7–23 | ||
Pts: Yousif Aljamal 23 | Pts: Jayson Castro 25 | |
San Beda wins series, 2–1 |
It was a nip and tuck affair in the first half of Game 1 with the Dolphins managing a slight margin at the end of the second quarter. San Beda however bounced back and outscored the Dolphins 20-5 in the penultimate quarter to pull away and draw first blood. [10]
San Beda started tentatively Game 2 with poor shooting. Reigning MVP and focal point of the Red Lion defense, Sam Ekwe was also hobbled with a knee injury. The Dolphins took advantage of this situation and efficiently worked their offense to run the Red Lions to the ground in the first half. It was virtually over by the start of the 2nd half as the Lions continue to fire blanks and the Dolphins proceeded to spoil San Beda's bid to end 28 years of frustration. [11]
San Beda ended 28 years of frustration with a win over former champions PCU. [12] Down by 15 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Dolphins made a furious comeback, cutting the lead to one point with 24.8 seconds remaining due to the exploits of Jayson Castro. After another San Beda turnover, the Dolphins had an opportunity to win the championship with Castro dribbled out the time before passing to Beau Belga; Belga's shot bounced off the rim as Yousif Aljamal rebounded the ball, leading to San Beda's championship. It was the 12th men's championship for the Red Lions. Forward Yousif Aljamal was named Finals MVP, after showing the same offensive consistency that was sorely lacking during their game 2 blowout loss. [12]
NCAA Season 82 men's basketball champions |
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San Beda Red Lions 12th title |
Nigerian exchange student Samuel Ekwe got four out of five awards given by the NCAA Press Corps: [13]
Seven players had been suspended by the Management Committee: [14]
With the aftermath of the PCU Baby Dolphins eligibility scandal, the NCAA forfeited all wins of PCU in Season 82. The results in this section show the results prior to its forfeiture. [15]
Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | PCU Baby Dolphins | 9 | 3 | .750 | — | Twice-to-beat in the semifinals |
2 | San Sebastian Staglets | 9 | 3 | .750 | — | |
3 | San Beda Red Cubs | 9 | 3 | .750 | — | Twice-to-win in the semifinals |
4 | JRU Light Bombers | 6 | 6 | .500 | 3 | |
5 | La Salle Green Hills Greenies (H) | 5 | 7 | .417 | 4 | |
6 | Perpetual Altalettes | 4 | 8 | .333 | 5 | |
7 | Letran Squires | 0 | 12 | .000 | 9 |
Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
1 | PCU | 67 | |||||||
4 | JRU | 66 | |||||||
1 | PCU | 55 | 41 | ||||||
2 | San Sebastian | 57 | 65 | ||||||
2 | San Sebastian | 61 | |||||||
3 | San Beda | 52 | |||||||
NCAA Season 82 juniors' basketball champions |
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San Sebastian Staglets Third title, second consecutive title |
Jake Pascual won four individual awards in the Juniors' division. [13] They were all returned after the conclusion of PCU High School's eligibility scandal. [15]