Despite getting swept in the finals by the Green Archer team that everyone expected to take the crown this season, Blue Eagles’ Season 79 run was nonetheless a perfect script for a movie.

The Blue Eagles waved goodbye to graduating players King Eagle Kiefer Ravena and sniper Von Pessumal at the beginning of the seaon. But the danger to the roster heightened when the team had to endure painful losses of key players including: swingman Jaymar “CJ” Perez, who was expected to be the best player on the team, point guards Jerie Pingoy and Hubert Cani, big men Arvin Tolentino – former Rookie of the Year – and John Apacible, and Glory Be players Clint Doliguez and Kemark Carino.

This called for former National Team Coach Tab Baldwin, who took over from Bo Perasol, to enforce a complete system change. However, expectations remained to be low for this team coming into the season.

From losing roughly half of the rotation to rebuilding around homegrown core players, from blowing double digit leads to battling back in games, this team has certainly grown throughout the year and with most of the team staying intact for another run in season 80, the Blue Eagles’ future is looking bright.

Meeting Expectations

The season began with a four-point win against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, followed by a defeat at the hands of the National University (NU) Bulldogs, after an Ateneo collapse coming out of the halftime break that allowed the Bulldogs to outscore the Blue Eagles, 20-9, in the third period.

The season’s defending champions, Far Eastern University, was the first team to see the potential of the young Eagles, as they pulled off an upset despite blowing a 23-10 lead early in the game. They then faced the Adamson Falcons where despite being up by 10 coming into the final frame, they allowed a comeback, with Dawn Ochea putting the final touches with a turnaround jumper with 1.9 seconds to seal the game.

Victories against the Red Warriors and Maroons allowed the team to finally break beyond .500, as they carried a 4-2 record into the final game of the first round against archrivals DLSU, where despite an early 26-20 lead, they were eventually hit with a 20-3 run by the men in green to finish the game with a 17 point buffer.

The second round began with a tit-and-tat battle between the Blue Eagles and the Fighting Maroons. However, the Maroons pulled off a run midway through the last quarter to lead by seven and the Blue Eagles had to bow to their Katipunan counterparts for the first time again in seven years.

On the rise

The defeat against University of the Philippines proved to be a turning point in the season for the Blue Eagles. They came back with a 14-point drubbing of the Red Warriors to snap the two-game skid. Jolo Mendoza was big for the team, scoring 15 in the first half to help grab a 5-point lead coming into the half.

Next up was the NU Bulldogs, whom they lost to in the first round. However, the Bulldogs was reeling in a four-game skid, and the Blue Eagles wasted no time in making that a five-game skid, as they raced off to a 7-0 start. Raffy Verano was waxing hot the entire game with 20 points, including 11 in the second quarter where he single-handedly outscored the Bulldogs, 11-8.

Up next was the undefeated DLSU Green Archers, who was toting a 12-0 record coming into the game and was widely expected to go undefeated in the season. It was not to be, however, as despite a quick five-point start for the Archers, the Eagles immediately responded with a 12-1 run themselves to earn an eight point lead. The game continued to be one of runs and Ateneo had the upper hand after the third, up 11.

Going to the final frame was a seesaw game, with the lead going up to 15 once off a four-point run by Go. King Archer Jeron Teng hit a three in the final moments to get the gap down to single digits, but it was too little too late as the Eagles escaped with an 83-71 win, breaking the dream run of the Green Archers.

The Eagles continued to extend their winning streak with a 15-point drubbing of the FEU Tamaraws with Isaac Go setting his then-career high with 14 markers. This was immediately eclipsed in the next game as he notched 15 in a win against cellar-dwellers UST, which gave them a good shot at the second seed and twice-to-beat advantage.

A three-way fight for the 2nd seed was in the cards for the final game day of the regular season, as FEU faced UE and Ateneo faced Adamson. The Blue Eagles extended their winning streak to five with a six-point win against the Falcons behind 14 from Ravena and 12 each from Mike Nieto and Wong.

Midnight came a bit too soon

The fairytale comeback was not to stretch to the final four, however. They started the postseason with a 62-61 heartbreaker against third-seed FEU, despite carrying a 10-point lead early in the final frame. The ballers from Morayta came back by playing hard inside and drawing fouls as their bigmen took advantage of the smaller frontcourt of the Eagles. Despite a heroic effort from Ravena, who hit two consecutive running threes, the Eagles came up one point short.

The second game was another grind out affair as the margin of victory was once again one point, but this time in favour of the Blue Eagles. The game was a battle of runs and this was the case until the end, where with Ateneo up two, Ron Dennison hit a floater to tie, and Ravena missed a potential game winner. In the extra frame, it was the case still, with the last points coming off an Isaac Go putback, after he came back into the game after getting a bloodied nose from accidental contact.

The first game of the finals was a tight one between archrivals Ateneo and La Salle, but the Green Archers prevailed on a messy final few minutes where both teams committed turnovers and missed potential game winners. Eventually it was a Jeron Teng layup which proved to be the game winner, as a Black jumpshot on the other end was blocked by Mbala.

The second and final game of the season wasn’t as close, as DLSU took an early lead and held on to it, with the Eagles taking a few runs but never enough to really challenge the Archers. A 79-72 final score gave the Archers the win and the championship, with the Blue Eagles settling for the runner-up spot.

On to the next one

“It’s been one heck of a ride” is how Thirdy Ravena described this season and indeed, it has been one. They began their story with an intense training session in Baler, where they would wake up at 3 AM, then run and trained until nightfall. It was a mix of physical and mental training for six days during the holy week.

It left a lasting impression on the players, to say the least. “It was traumatizing, I swear, like even weeks after Baler, you would still get nightmares about it,” says Ravena.

That began a journey that ended in them going to the finals, something which Ravena says no one expected them to do. In fact, people expected them to not even reach the final four.

“We promise to come back stronger, smarter, meaner next year,” he also adds.

On his part, Coach Tab Baldwin says that he likes how the team “elicited great feelings from their hard work and dedication” and that he also learned a lot with the team, including the Jesuit values that his dad taught him but he never experienced until now.

He will also be back next year to lead a more experienced version of this talented squad to battle. “I know how you feel about this team, how accomplished they are. But I promise you, these well wishes will not weaken and deter us from becoming great players. We will fight for the Season 80 championship,” he said.