TWELVE seasons. Twelve Finals. Terrence Fortea has never missed the biggest stage of the UAAP.
From the moment he stepped onto the UAAP hardcourt as a Grade 8 guard for NU-Nazareth School in Season 76, championship basketball has followed him like a shadow.
Finals after finals, year after year, Fortea found himself on the biggest stage the league could offer which became a pattern that somehow never broke, even as he transitioned to the University of the Philippines, even as roles changed, and even as minutes fluctuated.
But on Wednesday night at the Big Dome, with the Fighting Maroons clinging to life against pesky University of Santo Tomas in their Final Four duel, the graduating guard reminded everyone why he has been a constant in these moments for more than a decade.
Down the stretch, when State U needed a hero, the fresh off the bench Fortea rose off a transition and drilled the go-ahead three that sealed their pulsating 82–81 escape and booked their fifth straight Finals ticket.
READ: UP marches on to fifth straight finals after gutsy win vs UST
For someone built for big stages, the moment felt familiar, but never taken for granted.
“Every game, being ready lang talaga. Yun yung mindset ko lagi na pagpinasok ako, ready ako,” Fortea told SPIN.ph.
He has always been known as a shooter, but the 6-foot-1 gunner insists that being known for shooting is just one weapon in his arsenal, and college taught him he needed more.
“Doon ako nakilala eh,” he said. “Pero simula nung UP, kailangan mo pa rin gumawa ng sword mo. Hindi lang naman isang sword lang ang gagamitin mo. Kailangan mo pa rin maging playmaker, kailangan trabahuhin yung ibang aspeto ng game.”
That quiet grind and repetitive work are what have kept him going when the pressure cooker is turned up the maximum.
As his longtime mentor Goldwin Monteverde often reminds them, there’s no reason to shy away from big situations if you’ve worked for them every single day.
It’s also what allowed Fortea to experience something rare - that being every single year he played in the UAAP, he reached the title round.
Cherry on top
From high school championships under coach Jeff Napa, through Monteverde’s system, to his transition to UP, and now standing on the brink of a collegiate back-to-back, Fortea carries the same gratitude he had at 14 years old.
As he put it, “Lahat, kay Lord ’yan. Simula Grade 8 ako, nasa championship ako kada year sa UAAP. Thankful ako na na-experience ko lahat ’yon.”
And now, as he steps into one last UAAP Finals, the mission is clear-cut: finish the story right.
“'Di pa tapos,” he said. “Kailangan makuha namin yung back-to-back. Para cherry on top.”
With six championships already to his name - four in the juniors ranks and two in the collegiate level - Fortea stands exactly where he has always been.
And two steps more, he, indeed, will be putting the cherry on top of a storied UAAP career.
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