SEASON 82 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines has just begun, but already we’ve been dazzled by spectacular plays and pleasantly shocked by dramatic endings.
So entertained are we—especially by that Adamson U-National University game last September 7—that we can’t help but think of UAAP games in recent memory whose surprise endings completely blew us away.
1. Ryan Buenafe’s Best For Last
First on our list is one that happened nine years back in Season 73—The Finals, Game Two, October 1, 2010. Far Eastern University had a chance to go 1-1 against Ateneo in their Best of Three, but oh, how Ryan Buenafe broke their hearts. The Eagles were behind by nine in the first half, but Buenafe scored five straight points to bring his team abreast 30-31 at the half. The Tams were very much in the game in the second half, but In the dying seconds, the former San Sebastian Staglet silenced the rowdy FEU crowd. With just 22.1 seconds on the clock, Ateneo by just two, 61-59, Buenafe, the inside player, planted his feet beyond the three-point arc and let fly “The Shot.” The 7 percent three-point shooter knocked down the netless game winner and stunned everyone, including his fellow Eagles. Then the crowd roared. Loud and long.
2. Paul Desiderio: Atin ‘To
It didn’t look like it was his day that day. The gutsy former University of the Visayas Green Lancer was taking shots all day and most of them didn’t want to fall. Of 19 attempts, just five fell through. Now the Fighting Maroons were being pressed against the wall by a suddenly perked up University of Santo Tomas five who erased UP’s 11-point lead and now led the University of the Philippines by two, 73-71, just 5.3 seconds to go. Coach Bo Perasol called time and during that break, the TV cameras caught a cocksure Paul Desiderio saying “Atin ‘to. Papasok to.” Then they went back. Jun Manzo receives the ball from the sideline. Paul Desiderio emerges from the other end, catches the ball and in one fluid movement throws it to kingdom come. And Bang! UP takes it all away, 73-71. Turns out Paul was not just a hero. He was a prophet, too.
3. Isaac Go’s Daggers
Isaac Go collects daggers as a hobby. In the do-or-die game between Ateneo and FEU for a finals slot in the Final Four of Season 80, the battle was fierce, the scoring, tit for tat. Wendell Comboy three’d and put FEU up by two. FEU rubbed it in with a 6-0 run, but the Eagles held on and tied the game at 69-all, courtesy of Mike Nieto’s three. Behind by three with 14.5 seconds left, Go threw up an off-kilter three-pointer to force overtime—75-all. And the Eagles went on to eliminate FEU from the Finals equation in overtime. In Game One of the Finals against their archrivals, La Salle, Isaac Go again pulled a rabbit out of his pocket. Catching a fine pass from Thirdy Ravena, Go finished a layup against season MVP Ben Mbala to let Ateneo lead the series, 1-0. In Game Three, the Eagles again rode on Isaac Go’s mighty wings as he kept the championship trophy in Loyola with a cold-blooded three-pointer. Watta guy!
4. Paul Desiderio’s Atin 2
The Paul Desiderio mythology continued the following Season 81 when, during the second game of the Final Four against Adamson U, the UP captain again delivered a heartbreaking jump shot, 6.6 to go in a cardiac-challenging overtime period. The thrilling close capped off a classic ball game that saw lead changes in both regulation and overtime periods that left the record crowd unsure of who would be the ultimate winner until those final seconds. Behind most of the game, the Falcons managed to lead in the final moments of regulation, until Desiderio’s buzzer beater forced a tie and overtime. Adamson felt invigorated in OT and racked up six straight points, but a confluence of events had Diego Dario, Juan Gomez de Liaño and Bright Akhuetie contributing to another tie. But Jonathan Espeleta was fouled and managed to sink just one, 85-84, Adamson. On the return play, Desiderio did his sorcery, taking that gutsy shot for the win, 89-87, and history for his team.
5. Lenda Douanga’s Steal
And that brings us to Season 82. When ADU played National U for their first games of the season, this to us was the most exciting game yet. National U dominated all quarters, even as Adamson managed to hang on to the ears of the feisty Bulldogs. The game went into overtime, but even in the extra period, the final outcome was up in the air . Then suddenly, a breakthrough. NU’s Dave Ildefonso managed to score a layup over three Falcon guards, 1.4 seconds left on the clock. It looked like a done deal. What could happen in 1.4 seconds? But Adamson’s new foreign player Lenda Douanga was left open and he carefully unleashed a mild three-pointer at the top of the key that found its mark. The stunned Bulldogs were denied what would have been a brilliant win. Douanga finished with a double-double of 26 points and 19 rebounds and earned a reputation that puts him up there in the must-watch players of the new season.