FOR Pinoy hoops fans, the season of giving started back in September when the UAAP and NCAA kicked off their college basketball seasons just six days apart.
Showstopping moments were aplenty in the last four months as fans were treated to the best of both worlds with historic feats of strength and dominance.
BACK ON 'TAFT'
Six years since it last hoisted the UAAP championship trophy, La Salle made a stunning midseason turnaround to end its lengthy title quest behind league MVP Kevin Quiambao and the rest of the Green Archers.
READ: La Salle wins UAAP title as UP fires blanks in wild finish to Game 3
A shaky 4-3 start to UAAP Season 86 was swiftly converted into an 11-3 prelims finish — enough for the second seed and a twice-to-beat bonus.
The Archers went on to rout National University in the semifinals and rebounded from a loss in Game 1 to pull the rug from under top-seeded University of the Philippines.
Having successfully overcome the challenges of his previous coaching stints in collegiate history,
La Salle head coach Topex Robinson shattered his eight-year NCAA title curse. In a remarkable debut as a head coach in the UAAP, Robinson became the fourth Green Archers mentor to secure the UAAP crown, marking an exceptional achievement for a first-timer in the league.
GOLDEN REIGN IN ESPAÑA
It was a winning moment 17 years in the making but it truly was worth the wait as University of Sto. Tomas toppled the dynastic National University’s seven-season rule to win back the women’s hoops throne.
READ: Gritty UST Tigresses end NU Lady Bulldogs' seven-year reign
The journey to glory for the Tigresses was anything but smooth, facing obstacles such as two losses to the Lady Bulldogs in the preliminaries. They found themselves on the brink of elimination in the Final Four against a resurgent UP side and had to stage a comeback, erasing a late 15-point deficit in the dying seconds of Game Three to ultimately dethrone NU.
Not only did the Tigresses clinch their first basketball crown in nearly two decades, but it also marked UST's initial basketball title altogether since Season 69 when both the men's and women's championships resided in España.
HISTORY FOR 'M-V-Q'
As far as UAAP Season 86 is concerned, no one else had a year as big, as successful, and as historic as Quiambao just experienced.
READ: Kevin Quiambao is UAAP's first local MVP in eight years
He not only became the first homegrown UAAP player to secure the esteemed MVP award in nearly a decade, following in the footsteps of Ateneo great Kiefer Ravena, but he also emulated the achievements of one of La Salle's most dominant players, Don Allado, as the first local Green Archer MVP since 1998-99.
The 6-foot-7 standout from Muntinlupa, who promptly turned down international offers to continue with the Taft side in their pursuit of back-to-back championships, further etched his name in the league's history books. He accomplished this through two remarkable triple-double performances in the elimination round, in addition to setting a new UAAP single-game assists record with an impressive tally of 14
YEAR OF THE RED LION
Half a decade later, Mendiola once again hosts NCAA royalty as San Beda's enchanting comeback concludes with a well-deserved happy ending, triumphing over a resurgent top-seed Mapua. This victory extends San Beda's legacy as the most successful school in Philippine college basketball, boasting an impressive record of 23 championships in both seniors and juniors divisions.
READ: Andrada's late-game heroics lead San Beda past Mapua for NCAA title
Despite facing two defeats against Mapua in the preliminaries, overcoming a twice-to-win disadvantage in the semifinals against Lyceum, and finding themselves in a 0-1 finals deficit against Mapua, the Red Lions summoned one last fight. This spirited effort was led by 'King Lion' Jacob Cortez, the highly-regarded ace and son of PBA great Mike Cortez, along with Game Three hero Yukien Andrada, MVP runner-up Jommel Puno, and Finals MVP James Payosing, among other key contributors.
It was a title win as poetic as can be as San Beda and Mapua revisited the Season 67 finals in 1991. Mapua secured the series opener, and San Beda responded by forcing a title-deciding Game 3.
But unlike the three-decade-old contest, Game Three at the Big Dome would ultimately be ruled by the Red Lions under the baton of San Beda alum Yuri Escueta. The win avenged the '91 heartbreak at the hands of ex-Mapua and Ginebra ace Benny Cheng.
COOL AS CLINT
A scintillating debut season as a Mapua senior for Clint Escamis had everything any team could ask for — bar championship gold.
READ: Mapua's Clint Escamis bags MVP, Rookie of the Year titles in NCAA
The former Red Robin, who had a short-lived one-year stint in the UAAP with University of the East, made his second coming in Intramuros with a bang becoming the NCAA's fifth men's basketball rookie-MVP on top of his All-Defensive Team selection.
Despite an impressive 15-3 record in the preliminaries and a swift elimination of Season 98 finalist College of St. Benilde in the Final Four, achieving a maiden title in 32 years was not in the cards. San Beda had a vengeful last laugh, shattering what seemed like a near-perfect season for Mapua.
From an individual standpoint, however, Escamis' rookie-MVP year puts him alongside elite company in Letran's Rhenz Abando (2022), fellow Mapua ace Allwell Oraeme (2015), San Beda's Sam Ekwe (2006), and Philippine Christian University's Gabby Espinas (2004).
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