NCAA Season 83 basketball tournaments

The basketball tournaments of National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) 83rd season hosted by Jose Rizal University began on June 23, 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manuel V. Pangilinan as the keynote speaker. All subsequent elimination round games will be held at The Arena in San Juan (except for the penultimate playdate, which was held at the Araneta). The theme of the season is "Soaring High at 83" while the Studio 23 coverage uses the theme "Brotherhood of the ball" .

NCAA Season 83
.
Host schoolJose Rizal University
Men's Finals 1 2Wins
 San Beda Red Lions 76 762
 Letran Knights 68 640
DurationSeptember 19 to 26
Arena(s)Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVPRogemar Menor
Winning coachFrankie Lim
Semifinalists JRU Heavy Bombers
 Mapúa Cardinals
TV network(s)Studio 23 and TFC
Juniors' Finals 1 2Wins
 San Sebastian Staglets 90 882
 Letran Squires 72 830
DurationSeptember 19 to 26
Arena(s)Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVPRyan Buenafe
Winning coachRaymond Valenzona
Semifinalists San Beda Red Cubs
 JRU Light Bombers
TV network(s)Studio 23 and TFC

Uniforms
LetranCSBJRUMapuaSan BedaSSC-RUPHD
Light uniform
Light uniform
Light uniform
Light uniform
Light uniform
Light uniform
Light uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform
Dark uniform

Key

The key used throughout the article unless otherwise stated:

Qualified for semifinals with twice to beat advantage
Qualified for semifinals

Seniors' tournament

Preseason events

San Beda Red Lions replaced their head coach; Purefoods assistant coach Koy Banal was replaced by Talk 'N Text team manager Frankie Lim, while the Mapua Cardinals hired former Cardinal Leo Isaac to replace Horacio Lim (no relation to the Talk 'N Text team manager).[1] San Sebastian, meanwhile, hired Philippine Basketball League champion coach Jorge Gallent of the Harbour Centre Batang Pier.[2]

With the suspension of the PCU Dolphins, only seven teams competed in the tournament.

The tournament began on June 23 with a triple-header at the Araneta Coliseum with hosts JRU facing defending champions San Beda while Intramuros rivals Letran and Mapua faced off in the last televised game. The remaining elimination round games are set to be held at The Arena in San Juan.

Elimination round

The opening day was held at the Araneta Coliseum with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manuel V. Pangilinan as the keynote speaker. All subsequent first-round games will be held at The Arena in San Juan.

Rivalry games

San Beda Red Lions

San Beda attempted to sweep the first round and dominated the opposition; on the final game of the first round, the Red Lions faced the second place Letran Knights. SBC led for much of the game, but the Knights came back, capped with 6 points in the last minutes by Letran's Rey Guevarra, who converted an undergoal stab to put Letran up for good, after San Beda's Pong Escobal converted a disputed two-point shot.

The Red Lions rebounded after their loss and had a 5-game winning streak leading up to their second-round rematch with Letran. They won a notable game over JRU that embroiled San Beda in a legal tussle with the league (see Aljamal suspension, below). JRU committed 3 unsportsmanlike fouls as SBC head coach Frankie Lim and JRU mentor Ariel Vanguardia had a shouting match in the Arena's corridors after the game. San Beda avenged their first round loss against Letran with a win in which they led for the whole second half.

Letran Knights

After a 4-0 start, the Knights were dealt their first loss by season's host JRU, but after rallying from 20 points down came up short. Their win over San Beda ensured a #1 finish for the Knights, but their Intramuros rivals Mapua denied them another 4-0 streak as MVP candidate Kelvin dela Peña bailed out the Cardinals with an almost triple-double performance. Letran won their next game against San Sebastian to set up their rematch.

Trailing most of the game, Letran cut the deficit to two but a Borgie Hermida three-pointer kept the Knights from victory as they were beaten by San Beda 87-84 at the sold-out Araneta Coliseum. After the game, Letran players and San Beda supporters engaged in a brawl. The coaches and players received trivial punishments. Letran beat JRU in a frantic finish to seize the #2 seed.

JRU Heavy Bombers

JRU suffered an opening game loss against San Beda but rebounded on the next game to beat San Sebastian. However, they were beaten two more times, one via overtime against UPHD to fall with a 1-3 card. JRU seized the advantage on their game against Letran and held on to win.

JRU then made 5 consecutive wins, assuring themselves of the last semi-final berth. San Beda then broke the winning streak in a fight-marred game in which 3 JRU players were assessed with unsportsmanlike fouls. On their next game against SSC-R (which needed to win to stay in contention), the Bombers rallied with a 7-0 run in the last 2 minutes to force overtime and an eventual win. With the Bombers losing to the Knights in their rescheduled game, JRU now had to beat Letran consecutively to enter the Finals.

Mapúa Cardinals

Mapúa started on the wrong foot with a 0-3 start with losses against rivals Letran, against CSB (their only win in the season) and San Beda without last year's suspended MVP, Sam Ekwe. Mapúa then won against JRU and Perpetual in overtime to finish the first round against 2-4.

Mapúa lost a further two games against San Beda and JRU, but defeated Letran. Anchored by two-time player of the week Kelvin dela Peña, Mapúa won the next 4 games in order to finish with 6-6. Typhoons suspended some of the games, allowing the Cardinals to finish a week early. San Sebastian's losses enabled Mapúa to clinch the #4 berth a semis rematch against San Beda, which had eliminated them in the 2006 semifinals.

Bracket
  Semifinals
#1 & #2 have twice-to-beat advantage		 Finals
Best-of-three series
                       
1  San Beda 74    
4  Mapua 64    
  1  San Beda 76 76
  2  Letran 68 64
2  Letran 70  
3  JRU 61    

San Beda-Mapua series

Elimination round games:

  • July 4: Mapua 77-87 San Beda at the Arena
  • July 27: Mapua 75-89 San Beda at the Arena
September 12
4:00 p.m.
San Beda Red Lions  74–64  Mapúa Cardinals
Scoring by quarter: 21-15, 16-18, 24-13, 13-18
Pts: Yousif Aljamal 26
Rebs: Ekwe, Hermida 13 each
Asts: Pong Escobal 9		 Pts: Kelvin dela Peña 14
Rebs: Kelvin dela Peña 11
Asts: Sean Co 6
San Beda wins series in one game

Mapua raced to an 11-6 lead, but after a Frankie Lim time out, San Beda cut the lead and eventually pulled away in the third quarter. MVP candidate Yousif Aljamal carried the team with several clutch three-pointers to keep the Cardinals at bay. Kelvin dela Peña's outside sniping cut the San Beda lead to 8 from a high of 14 before Aljamal converted another three-pointer. After not scoring, the Cardinals forced a turnover, but dela Peña was not able to convert a contested fastbreak lay-up to dash Mapua's hopes of a championship.

Letran-JRU series

Elimination round games:

  • July 20: JRU 79-75 Letran at the Arena
  • September 3: JRU 71-74 Letran at the Arena
September 12
2:00 p.m.
Letran Knights  70–61  JRU Heavy Bombers
Scoring by quarter: 11-15, 17-15, 15-15, 27-16
Pts: RJ Jazul 17
Rebs: Andrew Quinday 9
Asts: RJ Jazul 3		 Pts: Wilson, Sena 12 each
Rebs: Wilson, Hayes 11 each
Asts: JR Bulangis 3
Letran wins series in one game

With fans wearing "We believe" shirts, the Heavy Bombers expected a battle of attrition against the Knights. Letran was able to make outside jumpers, with Bryan Faundo scoring the bulk of the points in the first three quarters; JRU meanwhile relied on the offensive rebounds of Marvin Hayes and James Sena to keep in pace with the Knights. In the fourth quarter Letran relied on RJ Jazul who scored 8 of his game-high 17 points to break the game open.

Finals

Elimination round games:

  • July 25: Letran 70-69 San Beda at the Arena
Rey Guevarra's shot at the buzzer stole the game away from the Red Lions.
  • August 31: Letran 84-87 San Beda at the Araneta Coliseum
Borgie Hermida's three-pointer at the final minute placed the game out of reach for the Knights.
September 19
4:00 p.m.
San Beda Red Lions  76–68  Letran Knights
Scoring by quarter: 14-23, 21-11, 13-13, 28-21
Pts: Ogie Menor 23
Rebs: Sam Ekwe 18
Asts: Pong Escobal 5		 Pts: RJ Jazul 17
Rebs: Andrew Quinday 8
Asts: Dino Daa 4
San Beda leads series, 1-0
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City
Attendance: ~18,000

San Beda and Letran started the game by trading baskets, then Letran broke away after their time out to lead by seven at the end of the first period. San Beda answered with their own 10-0 run to lead by a point.

The two teams battled evenly in a low-scoring third quarter. However, San Beda had a deciding run when RJ Jazul sat down after a hard foul at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Jazul came back cold and the Knights weren't able to come close as San Beda took game 1.

September 26
4:00 p.m.
San Beda Red Lions  76–64  Letran Knights
Scoring by quarter: 26-12, 17-17, 14-20, 19-15
Pts: Ogie Menor 25
Rebs: Sam Ekwe 13
Asts: Hermida, Escobal 6 each		 Pts: Bryan Faundo 17
Rebs: Bryan Faundo 10
Asts: RJ Jazul 3
San Beda wins series, 2-0

San Beda raced into an early lead in which Letran had a tough time recovering; the nearest they came was five points late in the third quarter. San Beda held off Letran due to their fast break plays, thanks to rebounds of Nigerian behemoth Sam Ekwe.

Ogie Menor was named Finals Most Valuable Player.

Suspensions
  • Samuel Ekwe of the San Beda Red Lions after kicking Lee Sang Myeon of UPHD Altas. Served one-game suspension at their July 4 game against the Mapua Cardinals. This suspension disqualified Ekwe for MVP contention.
  • Coach Jorge Gallent of the San Sebastian Stags after being ejected for two technical fouls on a game against the Letran Knights. Served one-game suspension at their July 13 game against the Mapua Cardinals; Staglets coach Raymond Valenzona coached in place of him.
  • St. Benilde Blazers shooting guard Paolo Orbeta has been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation for alleged game-fixing in NCAA games.[3] This has been the first arrest in game-fixing since the investigation last season. Orbera has been suspended by CSB and the NCAA indefinitely starting from their second-round game against the JRU Heavy Bombers as further investigation continues.[4]

Aljamal suspension

After Yousif Aljamal of the San Beda Red Lions was drafted at the 2007 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Draft, he was suspended by the NCAA Management Committee (MANCOMM) for the rest of the season after not informing the MANCOMM that he was joining the draft (5 other players from the previous two seasons were able to play after they were drafted). San Beda appealed the decision, and Aljamal should have served his suspension from their August 22 game against the JRU Heavy Bombers.[5] San Beda was able to secure a 72-hour temporary restraining order (TRO) that allowed Aljamal to play in the San Beda-JRU game, while the NCAA Policy Board reduced to suspension to three games.[6] With San Beda bringing the issue to the courts, a ranking member of suggested to The Daily Tribune that the Management Committee was considering suspending the basketball season.[7]

With this development, ABS-CBN, the tournament's sole broadcaster, threatened to sue the league if the season was scrapped, citing massive advertising losses for the lost coverage; meanwhile JRU officials denied that cancellation of the season was suggested.[8] San Beda meanwhile threatened to bolt out of the league (again) "if no solution is found to diffuse the ongoing case involving Aljamal."[9] The Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) then granted a 20-day extension to the order after a lengthy hearing. It was also revealed that JRU President Vicente K. Fabella and top San Beda officials were to meet on Sunday (August 26).[10]

The PBA stated that Aljamal "has never played in a single tournament organized by the PBA and should not be considered a professional basketball player as of now."[11] The NCAA meanwhile asked the Manila RTC to lift the TRO.[12] ABS-CBN executives mediated the matter along with NCAA and San Beda officials. It was revealed that the PBA was the one tasked "to inform the various leagues of their players’ participation in the draft. But problems that beset the PBA have overtaken events and Aljamal was an unwilling victim. It was not his fault and he should not be sanctioned."[13]

At a press conference held at the ABS-CBN Compound in Quezon City, San Beda withdrew their case against the NCAA and made Aljamal "sit out" the remaining elimination games against UPHD and Letran. SBC also apologized to the NCAA for "all the difficulties and bad publicity".[14] The NCAA for its part disregarded the suspensions, placing Aljamal back in the race for individual awards.

Awards
Seniors' basketball mythical team: Yousif Aljamal, Marvin Hayes, Kelvin dela Peña (also league MVP), Bryan Faundo and Dino Daa.

Statistical leaders

Juniors' tournament

The juniors' basketball tournament begins on June 25 at The Arena in San Juan with six schools participating. (Note: PCU Baby Dolphins and Mapua's Malayan Science are expected to join in Season 84.)

Elimination round
Pos Team W L PCT GB Qualification
1  San Sebastian Staglets 8 2 .800 — Twice-to-beat in the semifinals
2  Letran Squires 7 3 .700 1
3  San Beda Red Cubs 6 4 .600 2 Twice-to-win in the semifinals
4  JRU Light Bombers (H) 5 5 .500 3
5  La Salle Greenies 3 7 .300 5
6  Perpetual Junior Altas 1 9 .100 7
7  PCU Baby Dolphins 0 0 — 3 Suspended
Source: ABS-CBN Sports
Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) if tied for top 4, one-game playoff; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head point differential; 5) overall point differential
(H) Host.

Bracket
  Semifinals
#1 & #2 have twice-to-beat advantage		 Finals
Best-of-three series
                       
1  San Sebastian 85    
4  JRU 74    
  1  San Sebastian 90 88
  2  Letran 72 83
2  Letran 86 96
3  San Beda 96 92  

San Sebastian-JRU series

Elimination round games:

  • July 16: JRU 96-109 San Sebastian at the Arena
  • July 30: JRU 71-79 San Sebastian at the Arena
September 12
11:30 a.m.
San Sebastian Staglets  85–74  JRU Light Bombers
San Sebastian wins series in one game

Letran-San Beda series

Elimination round games:

  • July 9: Letran 106-92 San Beda at the Arena
  • August 31: Letran 98-96 San Beda at the Araneta Coliseum
September 12
9:30 a.m.
Letran Squires  86–96  San Beda Red Cubs
September 14
12:00 p.m.
Letran Squires  96–92  San Beda Red Cubs
Letran wins series in two games

Finals

Elimination round games:

  • July 2: Letran 75-74 San Sebastian at the Arena
  • August 24: Letran 70-64 San Sebastian at the Arena
September 19
2:00 p.m.
San Sebastian Staglets  90–72  Letran Squires
San Sebastian leads series, 1-0
September 26
2:00 p.m.
San Sebastian Staglets  88–83  Letran Squires
Scoring by quarter: 22-15, 24-19, 18-22, 24-27
San Sebastian wins series, 2-0
  • Finals Most Valuable Player: Ryan Buenafe (San Sebastian Staglets)

Awards
  • Season Most Valuable Player: Ryan Buenafe (San Sebastian Staglets)
  • Rookie of the Year: Keith Agovida (JRU Light Bombers)
  • Mythical Five:
  • Most Improved Player: Christian dela Paz (La Salle Greenies)
  • Defensive Player of the Year: Keith Agovida (JRU Light Bombers)

Broadcast notes

ABS-CBN's UHF channel Studio 23 was the sole broadcaster of the games, covering all men's games (except for the UPHD-San Sebastian game on opening day), the Letran-San Beda juniors second-round game, and the Finals series of the juniors. 101.9 For Life!, ABS-CBN's FM radio station, delivered updates on game dates.

NCAA College Hoops airs every Monday afternoons as a supplement for the main NCAA coverage. It is hosted by Andrei Felix and San Beda courtside reporter Pia Boren.

Playoffs broadcasters:

GamePlay-by-playAnalystCourtside reporters
Letran-JRU semifinalAndrei FelixButch ManiegoAica Llave & Melanie Martinez
San Beda-Mapua semifinalBill VelascoAllan GregorioPia Boren & Cassie Umali
Juniors' Finals Game 1Eric TipanJude RoqueCarla Rivera & Bea Atienza
Seniors' Finals Game 1Bill VelascoButch ManiegoAica Llave & Pia Boren
Juniors' Finals Game 2Eric TipanButch ManiegoCarla Rivera & Bea Atienza
Seniors' Finals Game 2Bill VelascoAllan GregorioAica Llave & Pia Boren

Champion rosters

See also

References
  1. SBC names Lim interim coach; MIT picks Isaac by Joey Villar, the Philippine Star.
  2. SSC: Hiring Gallent first step back to old glory Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine by Jasmine W. Payo, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 03/24/2007
  3. St. Benilde player arrested for alleged game-fixing in NCAA Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 08/02/2007
  4. Lions to tackle Stags; Blazers ‘freeze’ Orbeta Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 08/03/2007
  6. Court allows San Beda cager to play NCAA games Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine by Allison Lopez, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 08/22/2007
  7. Aborting NCAA cage season a Mancom option Archived 2007-09-01 at the Wayback Machine by Marc Anthony Reyes, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 08/24/2007
  8. If cage season canceled: ABS-CBN to sue NCAA by Julius Manicad, The Daily Tribune. 08/25/2007
  9. San Beda exec says, ‘Bolting NCAA an option’ by Julius Manicad, The Daily Tribune. 08/26/2007
  10. Lions get 20-day extension on TRO Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine by Marc Anthony Reyes, Philippine Daily Inquirer. 08/26/2007
  11. Decision on Aljamal case out tomorrow, Manila Standard Today. 08/27/2007
  13. Coverer initiates talks: NCAA, San Beda end squabble Julius Manicad, The Daily Tribune. 08/28/2007
  14. San Beda withdraws case against NCAA Archived 2007-10-17 at the Wayback Machine by Frank Calapre, The Manila Times. 08/29/2007
  15. GMANews.TV - San Beda’s Menor is NCAA player of the week - Sports - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA
  16. "Philippine Star - Articles". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  17. "INQUIRER.net - Archive Search". Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2007-08-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20070928020419/http://www.tribune.net.ph/sports/20070902spo5.html. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2007. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Preceded by
Season 82 (2006)		 NCAA basketball seasons
Season 83 (2007)		 Succeeded by
Season 84 (2008)
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