Hail The Super Six

THE future looked grim indeed going into the 88th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season.

The San Beda Red Lions were going into battle terribly scarred and still hurting from the late 2011 incident that rocked their world. Their phalanxes were incomplete, their equanimity was threatened.

True, they had boasted of a heads-up performance in the Pre-Season Cup, staying undefeated all the way to the semifinals, but eventually bowing to La Salle in those semis to wind up fourth overall in the final standings. But their third-year-in-a-row dominance of the Fr. Martin Collegiate Open Cup in February—only weeks away from the St. Placid Gym incident—gave a hint of their special spirit and character. Their incredible 89-66 trouncing of the Arellano University Chiefs in that earlier league showed these Lions were still formidable, no matter if they had that proverbial thorn in the foot.

From the outside looking in, it looked like this would be a different season for the Mendiola Bloc. The NCAA Mancom’s (Management Committee) decision to suspend eight Red Lions all at once—Kyle Pascual, captain ball Jake Pascual, Jaypee Mendoza, Ryusei Koga, Rome de la Rosa, Melo Lim, Baser Amer and Anjo Caram—was eyebrow-raising to say the least.

Bedans and their supporters found it downright harsh. The companion board decision to ban foreign players from being recruited to play in the league was seen by many as a ploy to prevent San Beda from playing with power players like Sam Ekwe, Sudan Daniel and Ola Ogeodun. Foreign players were allegedly seen by rival teams who sat on the board as San Beda’s main ticket to greatness and their continuing dominance in the league. So they wanted to remove the perceived amulet. To add a more bitter vetch to the equation, even players who had used up their playing years—Garvo Lanete, Sudan Daniel and Mar Villahermosa—were handed two-game suspensions, too. Ola Ogeodun—the San Beda foreign player whose complaint to his coach that the San Sebastian volleyball players had hurled him a racial slur started the melee—was given a one-year suspension (which has since been lessened to eight games).

“Why should I get the suspension?” Ola asked upon learning of the board decision. “I was the victim here. Why me?”

The unkindest cut of all, however, seemed to be the suspension for two years of Frankie Lim, the Beda coach who had given the Lions four NCAA titles.

“I wish the board were more consistent,” Gery Cuna Sabinosa, a staunch SBC booster, said. “The NCAA is suddenly very strict with San Beda. But in 2007 there was an incident during a Letran-Beda game at the Makati Coliseum where Letran coach Louie Alas went up to the gallery to confront San Beda alumni who were heckling Letran. Even Letran players were involved. How come there was no sanction on Alas and Letran? There was another game between Emilio Aguinaldo College and Letran where the conflict spilled over after the game. Even the coaches were involved. But there were no sanctions. Now there are stiff sanctions for an incident that did not even happen within a game?”

So with a new coach (Ronnie Magsanoc who replaced the embattled Frankie Lim), a depleted lineup and a big chip on their collective shoulder, the Red Lions entered the fray on Sunday, June 24, already defeated in the minds of those who could not conceive of them winning with just six players. To make things more interesting Yvan Ludovice, Art de la Cruz, Ritchie Villaruz, Francis Abarcar and Junjun Bonsubre were all rookies. Only one—Dave Moralde—was not. But he was only a sophomore.

As expected the Arellano University Chiefs—who is curiously coached by Koy Banal, the man who gave San Beda its glorious win in “28 at 82” back in 2006—raced to a fast start, 24-12 in the first quarter, confirming what everyone had expected all along. How can you win with only six?

But unlike the Oklahoma Thunder, the Lions did not wait till the fourth quarter to claw back and make a roar. By the end of the second quarter they had come abreast of the Chiefs. In the second half, naysayers got indigestion from eating their words. A 16-2 run by San Beda courtesy of Art de la Cruz and Ritchie Villaruz would turn the tide and show that David and Goliath stories still happen. There was no looking back, just blazing spirit and fire in the belly all afternoon long for the young Bedans who were still Lion Cubs just out on their first foray in Zebra Land. Just cheers and prayers from the ecstatic San Beda gallery who were up on their feet, shouting “Puso!”, and felt that this first game of the season was already the end-season championship game.

In the end, the young Lions had achieved the seemingly impossible. They had beaten a full component 15-man team with a six-man roster, with one even fouling out in the fourth canto. Ludovice played without relief from start to finish. Coach Ronnie Magsanoc had masterfully paced his precious manpower from start to finish, calmed them down when their fire seemed like it would burn themselves out, goaded them on to finish and give it their all.

“It was all heart,” the returning Red Cub, coach Ronnie Magsanoc said. “It was exhausting but extremely rewarding in the end. Nobody gave them a chance but they worked hard for every possession and played with passion throughout.”

It was a proud moment for the Red Sea of San Beda Faithful, undoubtedly. They who felt persecuted and harassed by their perceived opponents felt vindication and deliverance with just one statement game. With that game, San Beda’s “Children’s Crusade” earned its place in their school’s history. The Super Six are now part of San Beda lore and basketball history.

source: Tessa Jazmines, Business Mirror