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Memorable Sports Moments of 2014: The NU Bulldogs are UAAP champions

The NU Bulldogs celebrate their first UAAP title in 60 years. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

The NU Bulldogs had just won the Season 77 UAAP men’s basketball crown, and Eric Altamirano was nowhere to be seen.

Coach E was set to receive one of several sponsor-driven awards that were being handed out in the minutes following the Bulldogs’ improbable run that ended a 60-year title drought, but the amiable head mentor apparently wasn’t on the Araneta Coliseum floor anymore.

Oh, he was still in the venue, it’s just that he was doing something that, to his mind, was more important than receiving an award. A fine coach and an even finer gentleman, Altamirano was in the locker room of the FEU Tamaraws, the team the Bulldogs had just vanquished, to talk to his counterpart Nash Racela and make sure he was okay.

Altamirano eventually made his way back to the center of the festivities to accept his award, and as usual he spoke calmly and humbly. Looking at him, you wouldn’t think he had just helped end the longest championship drought in UAAP men’s basketball history.

NU Bulldogs coach Eric Altamirano. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)
NU Bulldogs coach Eric Altamirano. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)



Then again, a lot of things about the Bulldogs’ magical season didn’t make sense.  A whole lot of other stuff simply gave you goose bumps. Perhaps one or two moments made you bite your lip and got you a little misty-eyed. And this is why I picked NU’s journey to the top of the UAAP basketball throne as my favorite sports moment of 2014.

You often hear about championships that are “meant to be”. Players who’ve been on title-winning teams oftentimes mouth the phrase “para sa amin talaga”. This was one of those times.

NU’s path to the crown was littered with land mines everywhere; one misstep, one unlucky bounce, and another school most likely would have won it all. The following events all had to happen: UE’s Bong Galanza missing a step-back triple, a shot he regularly nailed in Season 77, near the end of the NU-UE playoff match for the fourth seed; Kiefer Ravena missing that long triple in the first game of their Final Four match-up against Ateneo; Gelo Alolino burying his own triple in the second game that tied it up with a minute left, and then calmly sinking two free throws; Alfred Aroga blocking Ravena’s last-ditch attempt to send the game into overtime.

Put another way, the Bulldogs had to go through five knockout games, and they won them all. No other team in UAAP history had achieved that.

Game 3 of the championship series was hardly a classic, at least not in the basketball sense, but it’s here where so many other defining moments of NU’s odyssey took place. The Bulldogs cruised to the crown, 75-59, in front of the largest crowd ever assembled for a basketball game at the Araneta Coliseum. That alone was a major statement.

But it wasn’t just quantity, for there was plenty of quality in this record crowd of 25,138.  A former Philippine president was in attendance, as was a 78-year-old member of NU’s last champion team of 1954. Several former Bulldogs were also around, led by the King Bulldog himself, Danny Ildefonso.

Former president Fidel V. Ramos. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)
Former president Fidel V. Ramos. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)



Danny I. had been a frequent sight at NU games in Season 77 as the Bulldogs advanced deeper into the post-season. He is a man used to seeing his face on the coliseum jumbotron, and when he does, he usually gives out a polite smile or wave.

All that changed, though, in the third period of Game 3. With the Bulldogs up by double digits and in control of the game, Ildefonso finally let his emotions loose, pumping his fist repeatedly at his image on the jumbotron with a big smile on his face, like a kid about to open his Christmas presents. We got this, he seemed to say. The crowd went nuts.

Former NU Bulldogs center Danny Ildefonso. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)
Former NU Bulldogs center Danny Ildefonso. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)



And unknown to graduating Bulldog Glenn Khobuntin, the crowd included his proud parents, who had quietly flown in to catch their son’s final UAAP game. When he finally spotted them, near the end of the match and the Bulldogs putting the finishing touches on their historic win, he rushed over and gave them both a long, warm embrace. Soon tears were flowing down all their cheeks, and Khobuntin’s father was sobbing uncontrollably. Residents of Cagayan De Oro, it was their first time to watch Glenn play in the flesh in a Bulldogs uniform. Winning a championship in front of your parents – it doesn’t get any better than that.

Glenn Khobuntin of National University hugs his parents after the Bulldogs win the UAAP Season 77 men's basketball title. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)
Glenn Khobuntin of National University hugs his parents after the Bulldogs win the UAAP Season 77 men's basketball title. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)



Khobuntin was just one of several Bulldogs who stepped up in Game 3. Actually, it didn’t matter who Altamirano fielded in; whoever was pulled off the bench contributed. Kyle Neypes and Jjay Alejandro, combined for 18 points, and even seldom-used rookie Rev Diputado came through with a clutch triple and a drive that helped NU pull away in the second half. Really, it was hard not to cheer for these guys.

After the final buzzer sounded, the narratives continued. SM’s top honcho Hans Sy gave Altamirano a big hug. Just a year earlier, after NU blew a twice-to-beat advantage against the UST Tigers, talk was rife that Altamirano’s job was on the line. Now here was the coach and his big boss celebrating together. What a difference a year makes.

Aroga, like his coach a soft-spoken individual, was named finals MVP. Not much of a talker on the court, he nevertheless gave a memorable line during his victory speech, one that pretty much summed up this remarkable run. “Teams that win championships have a story, and we have a story. We went through a lot.”

They sure did.

Follow the author on Twitter: @Sid_Ventura