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The five best Game 3s in the UAAP Final Four era

Jeron Teng of DLSU and Jeric Teng of UST during the UAAP Finals Game 3 between De La Salle University and University of Santo Tomas at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on 12 October 2013. DSLU win 71-69. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Imges)

Another UAAP championship series will go down the wire as the NU Bulldogs kept their title hopes alive after beating the FEU Tamaraws, 62-47, last October 8 at the jampacked Smart Araneta Coliseum.
 
The grudge match between NU and FEU is the 10th Game 3 in UAAP Finals history since the implementation of the Final Four format in 1994.
 
As a prelude to this titanic clash, let us take a trip down memory and relive the five best Game 3s in the FInal Four era.
 
5. 2013 Finals: DLSU vs. UST (UAAP Season 76)
 
Game 1: UST won 73-72.
Game 2: La Salle won 77-70.
Game 3: La Salle won 71-69 (OT).

Finishing the previous UAAP Season at second place after losing to ADMU, everyone expected this to be UST’s time to win it all. The team was led by its core of Jeric Teng, Aljon Mariano, Karim Abdul and Kevin Ferrer.

On the other hand, La Salle was under rookie head coach Juno Sauler and was labeled dark horses for the tournament. This team relied on its core of Finals MVP Jeron Teng, Almond Vosotros and LA Revilla.

Just like their previous encounter way back in 1999, the series went down the wire.

During Game 3 of this series, UST led by as much as 15 points in the first half but La Salle roared back to life by unleashing a 22-6 run to lead 47-46 at the end of the third quarter.

In the dying moments of the game and with UST having the luxury of taking the last shot with the score tied, Mariano missed a potential championship-clinching jumper to send the game into overtime.

In the extra time, the Archers relentlessly hounded the tired Tigers with their stingy defense. Turnovers would keep both teams at bay.

UST went ahead, 69-67, with 34 seconds left on a turnaround jumper by Jeric Teng. Brother Jeron split his free throws with 30 seconds remaining, but Mariano committed a careless turnover by throwing the ball out of bounds.

With the ball now in La Salle’s hands, Jeron drove down hard in the lane and found an open Almond Vosotros for the championship-sealing jumper.

With 2.3 ticks left in regulation, Karim Abdul’s desperation trey was off the mark and the Archers went on to win their first championship after the Pumaren era.


 
4. 1994 Finals: DLSU vs. UST (UAAP Season 57)
 
Game 1: DLSU won 77-74.
Game 2: UST won 89-75.
Game 3: UST won 77-76.
 
Back in the 1990s, UST put together a dynasty in the UAAP, stringing together a four-peat from 1993 to 1996. Most of those wins came at the expense of the Green Archers.
 
For the first time, the Final Four format was implemented during this season. The year before, UST was unanimously crowned champions after sweeping the entire elimination round.
 
When the series went down the wire, La Salle had a golden opportunity to dismantle this growing UST dynasty.  However, tough luck stymied the Green Archers as Elmer Lago’s follow-up attempt of Mark Telan’s miss rattled out of the rim at the buzzer.
 
UST guard Bal David had earlier given the Tigers a one-point lead via two clutch free throws with six seconds left.
 
3. 2006 Finals: ADMU vs. UST (UAAP Season 69)
 
Game 1: Ateneo wins 73-72.
Game 2: UST wins 87-71.
Game 3: UST wins 76-74 (OT).

For Thomasians, this series was summarized by this saying: Relive 96 at 69. The year 1996 was the last time they won the crown prior to their 2006 championship.

Led by then rookie coach Pido Jarencio, nobody expected UST to win it all. But with Coach Pido’s famous slogan of Pride, Puso, and Palaban, the Tigers weren’t a team to be taken lightly.

Surviving an up-and down elimination before casting their Final Four berth, UST had to defeat the Ken Bono-led Adamson Falcons to secure the third seed. They would then beat the favored UE Red Warriors twice to set up a finals date with Coach Norman Black and the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

Everyone thought that UST was going to steal the opening game of the Finals after Allan Evangelista nailed a tough fadeaway over Ateneo’s Doug Kramer giving UST a 72-71 advantage with a second left in regulation.

However, Ateneo pulled out a miracle of sorts as Kramer banked in the game-winning shot off an inbound pass from Macky Escalona.

Stiung by their last-second collapse, the Tigers went berserk in the second game of the series as they waxed down hot from distance which set the stage for a winner-takes-all third game.

During the highly physical game three, Ateneo threatened to pull away as they led by as much as 10 points during the second quarter. However, the Tigers just had enough firepower to mount a mighty comeback but it proved to be costly as both rookie Jervy Cruz and Evangelista fouled out in the process.

With both vital cogs out in the final minute of regulation, and with Ateneo holding a 64-59 lead, Anthony Espiritu and Mark Canlas rose to the occasion as the former splashed an outside shot while the latter successfully nailed a put-back to tie it up at 64-all. The game would go into overtime.

It was a seesaw affair in overtime, with Ateneo grabbing an early three-point lead but UST coming back to take its own three-point lead with less than two minutes to go. Chris Tiu came up with a huge triple to knot the count at 72 with 55 seconds left before Jojo Duncil and JC Intal traded baskets for another deadlock.

In the dying minutes of the extra period, and with the game knotted at 74 apiece, Dylan Ababou split his freebies which gave a slight window of opportunity for Ateneo. But Intal missed his jumper and the referees called a jump ball in favor to UST. With 3.6 seconds left, Jun Cortez split his free throws for a two-point edge, and Jai Reyes’s desperation heave wasn’t even close, securing UST’s triumph and their first title since 1996. Duncil was big for UST in overtime, hitting six points, while going down the drain for Ateneo was Escalona's career-high 28 points.



2. 2001 Finals: DLSU vs. ADMU (UAAP Season 64)
Game 1: DLSU won 74-68.
Game 2: ADMU won 76-72.
Game 3: DLSU won 93-88

Nothing could get more exciting when these two bitter rivals face off.

The Green Archers were the defending three-time UAAP Champions while the Blue Eagles were aiming to end their 13-year long title drought. What also made this series special was the final game of Renren Ritualo in a La Salle jersey.

Adding more flavor to this series also was La Salle’s desire to avenge their 1988 Finals loss against the same team. It was also Ateneo’s last title before winning it all in 2002.

As many DLSU alumni would recall, they saw a frustrated Ritualo shooting threes during the halftime break since his production was limited by the tight defense of ADMU’s Rich Alvarez. La Salle was also facing an 11-point deficit entering into the second half.

As the second half started, Ritualo sent shock waves across the Araneta Coliseum as he splashed outside shot after outside which eventually gave the Archers the lead. Carlo Sharma also had his finest game after scoring a UAAP career-high 22 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

As the final buzzer sounded and with La Salle winning its fourth straight crown, Ritualo could be seen running around the court holding the DLSU flag loud and proud.

Aside from Ritualo’s heroic performance, this also served as the coming out party for Ateneo’s prized rookie point guard LA Tenorio. The current Gilas Pilipinas floor general erupted for 30 points but his efforts weren’t enough as teammate Enrico Villanueva went 2-of-14 from the field.
 
1. 1999 Finals: UST vs. DLSU (UAAP Season 62)
 
Game 1: UST won 62-60.
Game 2: DLSU won 81-74.
Game 3: DLSU won 78-75 (OT).

For Lasallians, this can simply be called “Aldeguer’s finest hour.”

For three straight UAAP Seasons (1994-1996), the UST Growling Tigers relentlessly broke the hearts of the Green Archers by awarding them with consecutive bridesmaid finishes in each of their championship round encounters.

The two teams would meet again one last time for the 1999 UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship and this time the Green Archers got the last laugh.

UST was on its way to clinching another crown at DLSU’s expense after Renren Ritualo and Don Allado missed attempts that would have tied it at 66. But UST’s Glibert Lao failed to put the game away, splitting his free throws with 15 seconds left to leave the door open for Aldeguer’s heroics.

With La Salle out of timeouts, Aldeguer quickly raced down the court and passed the rock to Ritualo, the team’s best shooter. But Ritualo was double-teamed, forcing him to pass the ball to center Don Allado.

Then in that moment, Allado passed to an open Aldeguer, who was fouled by UST’s Nino Gelig as he buried a three-pointer at the top of the key and boom, the game was tied at 67. Aldeguer missed the bonus free throw, though, and the game went into overtime.

During the overtime period, Ritualo banked a tough shot, giving La Salle the lead in the process and with little time left, UST would miss the go-ahead three-pointer in transition which would have forced double overtime.

With that epic win, La Salle finally destroyed the UST curse, doing it in a do-or-die championship game.