A YOUNG ROSTER; A NEW SYSTEM

WRITTEN BY : Gab Malabag

With a reformed roster, a young and aspiring UST Growling Tigers is one of the contenders for the awaited Men’s Basketball Tournament of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85. Mentored by Bal David, a UST alumnus who gave two championships to the university during his playing career, the Tigers are looking set for the upcoming season. Players like Nic Cabanero and Adama Faye, who led the team during their exhibition game against the UST alumni which was held before the tourney are the ones who are expected by the Thomasian community to perform well when the tournament begins.

The two didn’t disappoint at their match against the tournament hosts, Adamson Soaring Falcons on the opening day of the tournament. Cabanero led the team with his career-high 33 points that gave the Tigers the win with a score of 69-60 with Faye having his share on the rebounding end with a tally of 15.

Since Cabanero performed well during their previous match, the La Salle Green Archers gave him a hard time with their excellent defense throughout the game, holding the star player to only 10 points on a sub-par 5-of-20 shooting. The Archers continued their dominance on both ends and won the game by a large margin, 83-63.

The Tigers were hoping to get back to their winning ways against the NU Bulldogs in the first round. But after a back-and-forth match until the final stretch of the game, Faye’s contribution of 20 points was not enough to get them the win, 67-60.

The remaining games for the Tigers proved to be a challenge as they go up against the likes of the contenders in last season’s Finals, the Ateneo Blue Eagles and UP Fighting Maroons. These series of games further worsened the standing of the newly-formed roster, ending their first round with a 1-6 record.

One of the highlights for the second round was the close game be- tween the Tigers and the Soaring Falcons again which went down the wire. But due to the excellent defense of the Falcons, they thwarted the chance of Cabanero to score the winning shot of the game. The Tigers lost by a slim margin against the players from San Marcelino, 55-56.

As Cabanero said in the post-game interview, “When I’m having a hard time, I need someone to back me up. You’re not a leader when you don’t have followers”. This was evident as the Tigers blew a 19-point lead and only scored 5 points in the fourth quarter of the head-to-head with him racking up a total of 22 points for the whole game.

The third-quarter shutdown of the Tigers, as denoted by many, has been the problem of the new roster ever since the start of their losing streak wherein they tend to lead early in the game but always struggle after the halftime break. Because of this, the record of the Tigers fell to the bottom of the team standings at the end of the season at 1-13, matching their worst record during 2017 under coach Boy Sablan.

Having won only one game for the whole tourney, the Tigers are back to the drawing board again, especially this off-season. Players from other teams like La Salle’s Evan Nelle in an interview with inquirer.net believes that Cabanero and the rest of the squad will come back stronger next season with the latter ending as the league’s highest scorer, averaging 17.75 points per game.

“We went through a lot of adjustments and struggles. Despite that, we still showed improvement by the end of this season. But I hope by next season, we will have better chemistry and become more solid as a team”, Cabanero noted. This will involve the team regaining their composure and working on their chemistry as only some of the things that will surely be done by the coaching staff. Rest assured, that the Thomasian community will be supporting them until they get back to hopefully bounce back next season.

Setting the “Bar”: A RECAP OF EJ OBIENA’S POLE VAULTING JOURNEY THIS 2022

WRITTEN BY : Ady Advincula

Obiena welcomed the month of July by claiming the gold at the Jump and Fly Meet in Hechinger, Germany last July 2, achieving a performance of 5.80 meters after finishing sixth in Sweden. China’s Huang Bokai won silver with a performance of 5.50 meters, besting Vincent Hobbie, a local competitor, who had jumped 5.10 meters.

Obiena arrived in Los Angeles last July 7 and was shocked as he was detained by US Department of Homeland Security officials for more than 12 hours on suspicion of evading felony charges in the Philippines. According to the report, his detention was justified on the grounds that he might be a wanted fugitive. An unnamed source possibly provided US officials with information about Obiena “with the objective to obstruct” his entry into the country as well as his goals of winning and making the podium. Obiena was later released with commiserations from the US Immigration authorities.

Even with the hindrances, the Filipino vaulter showed up at the World Athletics Championships from July 15 to 24 in Oregon, USA. Obiena ended strong by clearing the 5.94-meter mark while beating his previous Asian record of 5.93-meters, leaving him with a bronze medal. Following his historic podium triumph in the Eugene, Oregon, 2022 World Athletics Championships, Obiena showed he is still the greatest in Asia by moving up three spots to a new career-high No. 3 and was announced as the first Filipino podium finish at the World Athletics Championship

Obiena continued his winning momentum after earning the bronze medal at the Silesia Diamond League on August 5 in the Śląski Stadion in Chorzów, Poland. Armand Duplantis, the world’s best, took the lead in the event after setting a new meet record at 6.10 meters. While Sondre Guttormsen, of Norway, won the silver following the countback rule.

The Top 3 pole vaulter had a great start to his eight-meet streak after defeating world no. 2 Christopher Nilsen in the 26th Internationales Stabhochsprung-meeting in Jockgrim, Germany, on August 23. On his third try, Obiena successfully cleared 5.81 meters to win the gold medal. Two days after his first competition of the second outdoor season, Obiena competed at the Athletissima in Lausanne, Switzerland, but only completed the tournament with bronze.

Obiena stepped up to win the gold at the True Athletes Classic in Leverkusen, Germany, last August 28 after failing to win in Athletissima. Obiena beat off Kurtis Marschall of Australia and Rutgar Koppelaar of the Netherlands by a distance of 5.81 clearance on his second attempt.

On August 31, Obiena won the Wendel City Jump competition in Germany, continuing his streak of victories. Obiena’s remarkable 5.86-meter clearing, which won him the gold medal, overcame Menno Vloon of the Netherlands and Anthony Ammirati of France, who both managed 5.81 meters.

And who could forget the IAAF Diamond League Memorial Van Damme athletics meeting in Brussels, Belgium last September 4, where Obiena shocked everyone by defeating the Olympic World Champion, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis with a 5.91-meter jump over Mondo’s 5.81 meters.