UAAP 2023 (Grade 4, PE Basketball)

 

Grade 4 (2023)

 

UAAP Blog: Finals Game 1 (Grade 4, PE, UAAP Basketball, November 30, 2023)

 I decided to make one blog for the entire series. But this as of here, I’m writing from the day after Game 1. The matchup was UP vs DLSU. 

The first quarter was close (as always). UP started ahead 4-0, but then La Salle went on an 11-6 run. After that, it was a back and forth, with both teams scoring. The quarter ended 28-24. 

The second quarter was kinda close, but UP was playing better. But again, both teams were trading shots. Towards the end, UP was on a 15-7 run, ending the quarter with a three to go up 53-41. 

The third quarter was lopsided. UP won the quarter 24-14, including a 13-8 run at the start. And even after that, they were making a lot of shots. They ended the quarter up 77-55. 

The fourth quarter was a continuation of the third. UP won the quarter 20-12. They kept scoring, and La Salle was just playing as if it was practice. The 22-point lead at the end of the third grew to 30, with UP winning 97-67. Now for Game 2.

UAAP Blog: Final Four (Grade 4, PE, UAAP Basketball, November 28, 2023)

 This is it. The Final Four! This is what we’ve been waiting for the entire season! (Just kidding, there’s something even bigger later on. But we’ll get to that later.) But yeah. I’m going to cover the UP vs Ateneo game today. 

The first quarter was very low-scoring. Nobody scored until an Ateneo player named Chris Koon (sometimes Westernised to Chris Goon by foreign news) made a layup. It took UP long enough to score. More than four minutes, to be exact. It took another minute until another two points were scored. Fast forward to the end of the first quarter, and the score was 11-7 in favor of Ateneo. Yes, for real. You’re not dreaming. 

The second quarter was a bit better. The start was still slow, but it didn’t take too long for them to score. It was also close throughout. Well, there’s not much else to say here. But Ateneo remained ahead 25-22 heading into the second half. 

The third quarter was also quite close. The game was tied at 29, but then Ateneo made a three. It was a battle for the lead for the next few possessions. However, UP went on a 9-3 run to end the third quarter up 42-37, showing signs of pulling away. 

The fourth quarter was very boring. UP was pulling away, making shot after shot after shot, and with Ateneo even air balling a technical free throw. UP won 57-46, meaning that Ateneo will miss the finals for the first time since 2015. 

So, what was that even bigger event? It's the finals. La Salle already beat NU, meaning that they’ll face UP. This is the first time that matchup is in the finals. Okay, now I’m done. Bye!

UAAP Blog: Final Games of Round 1 up to the Playoffs (Grade 4, PE, UAAP Basketball, November 23, 2023)

             You probably clicked on this post, thinking, “Aw, this is gonna be ANOTHER UP-dominated game.” But no. La Salle is the other good team in the league. So this was a very close game. 

 

            The first quarter was kinda close, but La Salle played better. UP was making some shots, however, I’d say they would make 1 shot for every 5 shots they took. La Salle, meanwhile, was making 4 shots every 5 shots they took. (I’m not being literal here. I’m just estimating it to give you an idea of how they played). Anyway, the first quarter ended with La Salle up 28-21. 

 

            The second quarter was also kinda close. There was a stalemate around the 7:00-6:00 time period, but UP went on an 11-0 run afterward. However, La Salle played better for the remainder of the quarter. At halftime, the score was 47-38. 

 

            Immediately in the third quarter, La Salle made a three. But they only scored three points the entire quarter. The third quarter was a very lopsided comeback for UP. 

 

            The fourth quarter was the best part. La Salle recovered from their poor third quarter. There were a lot of reviews, and the last 4 seconds lasted minutes! La Salle inbounded the ball with 2.9 seconds left, but CJ Cansino stole the ball, and the game was over. Final score: 67-64. 

 

            The next game is UP vs Ateneo. Well, that’s it guys! Bye!

 

 

Note: I looked at the box scores on https://www.teampilipinas.info/2018/09/uaap-live-updates-schedule-results.html.    

 

This is a recap of the 1st round of the eliminations. Yes, I’ll cover each UP game today. (I decided just to cover the UP games because those are the games that my parents like to watch.)

 

            UP’s first game was against Adamson. And it was a blowout. The first quarter even ended with a half-court shot from a UP player. That was the only time I saw something like that this season. Final score: 68-51. 

 

            The next game was also UP-dominated. You might be saying, “Oh, for sure UP will go 14-0.” Well, no. You see, UP’s only one of the good teams in the league. But since they are one of them, they managed to beat UE in another blowout. The first quarter even ended 32-9. To think that a team would not even score 10 points in a quarter is just crazy. But it happened. 

 

            One of the upcoming games is UP vs NU (on the last gameday). It will probably be a close game. But their first round meeting wasn’t. UP won the game by 18. It was the second half where they pulled away. 

 

            Finally, someone who can challenge UP. FEU actually forced UP into overtime. (That means that they needed to play an extra period because there was no winner after four quarters.) UP thought they made a game winner at the end of the fourth quarter, but they released the ball too late. Still, in overtime, UP managed to win. 

 

            Another lopsided victory for UP. Well, not right away. UST did quite well in the first quarter, but the third quarter ended with UP ahead by 35. The game ended with them winning by 31. 

 

            I already wrote an in depth view of this game, but if you’re short on time, just read this one. La Salle is one of the other good teams in the league, so this was a close game. The final seconds were very long, but when CJ Cansino, UP’s shooting guard, intercepted a La Salle pass, the game was over. 

 

            UP played against Ateneo, another good team. The first three quarters were very close. In the fourth quarter, though Ateneo was playing better at first, UP made a huge comeback to force overtime. However, Ateneo outlasted them in the extra period. Finally, UP lost. They ended the first round 6-1. 

            Okay, so I’m going to write a second article on the last game (UP vs NU), because it’s very important. But more on that at the end. For now, let’s talk about what happened in the first six games of the second round. 

 

            UP vs Adamson was also the first game of the second round. And it was a blowout. Adamson only scored 9 points in the second quarter. UP’s biggest lead was 26. The final score was 77-51. 

 

            The second game was UP vs Ateneo. I didn’t watch it because I was sick, but I’ll try to give you a quick recap on the game. UP, despite having multiple injured players, played very well. But in the fourth quarter, Ateneo came back. However, UP managed to survive, winning the game 65-60. 

 

            The next game was UP vs La Salle. I did watch this one, I was much better by then. The game was very close all throughout, though La Salle kinda played better in the first half. La Salle was ahead by a few points in the final minutes, but UP finally took the lead again. But La Salle recovered, and UP kept missing important shots, which cost them the game. 

 

            After that was UP vs UE. It was very close, so let me analyse the fourth quarter. UP was holding on to a very delicate lead when UE finally destroyed it. But UP came back. And with UE missing a lot of major shots, UP managed to seal the victory.  

 

            UP vs FEU in the first round went to overtime. But this one wasn’t even close. FEU played quite well in the late first and early second quarters, but by the fourth quarter, they were down by a lot. The game ended 81-64. 

 

            I’ll end this one with UP vs UST. UST was playing very well in the early first quarter, which is very surprising, because they only won one game (as of November 17). But UP came back later in the first quarter, holding on to that for the rest of the game, and winning the game. (I can’t remember the score or see it online.)

 

            So, as I said at the start, I’ll leave the last game out of this blog, because it’s very important. That’s because, along with La Salle vs Ateneo, that game will greatly affect the standings. Let’s look at the different scenarios. 

            

            But first, you have to understand how the Final Four works. The top four teams will play in two separate playoffs (#1 vs #4 & #2 vs #3), with #1 and #2 having twice to beat advantages. That means that even if they lose, they still have one more chance, and if they win the second game, they’ll make it to the finals. (If #1 and/or #2 win the first game, they’ll automatically advance to the finals.)

 

            If UP and La Salle win, UP will be #1, La Salle will be #2, NU will be #3, and Adamson and Ateneo will play a tiebreaker game to determine who #4 will be. 

 

            If La Salle and NU win, there are two possible scenarios. The first will happen if UP loses by 18 points or less. In this scenario, La Salle will be #1, UP will be #2, NU will be #3, and again, Adamson and Ateneo will play a tiebreaker game for #4. 

 

            The second scenario if La Salle and NU win will happen if NU wins by 19 points or more. In this scenario, La Salle will be #1, NU will be #2, UP will be #3, and again, the Adamson-Ateneo tiebreaker thing. 

 

In the end, if La Salle and NU win, it really doesn’t matter which scenario happens, because a practical best of 3 is guaranteed to be played between UP and NU. But actually, their first game is just to decide who will get the twice to beat advantage. However, for all practical intents and purposes, it’s just a best of 3. 

 

If Ateneo and NU win, there are also two possible scenarios. The first is that UP will be #1 and NU will be #2. This will happen if UP only loses by 17 points or less. But if NU wins by 19 points or more, they’ll be #1, and UP will be #2. Then, La Salle will be #3, and because Ateneo won against La Salle here, they won’t need to play against Adamson anymore. 

 

If Ateneo and UP win, UP will be #1, #2 La Salle will play #3 NU in a virtual best of 3 (you already know how that works), and Ateneo will be #4. Again, here, Adamson will be eliminated. 

 

So, I know it’s complicated. But once you study more on this, it’s actually very easy. Okay, now I’m done. Bye!

 

 

I told you a big game was coming. La Salle beat Ateneo, and Adamson beat UE, so Adamson could still make the Final Four. But as of my writing, Ateneo already won the play-off game. Okay. But I’m gonna rewind a bit to the UP vs NU game. 

 

Let me just say, you would not want to watch the first quarter. UP scored the first 10 points of the game. NU finally scored some points at the end of the first quarter, though. Still, UP ended the first quarter up 23-13. 

 

So, you’re saying to yourself, “Hm, but NU’s a good team. The second quarter will be their comeback, right?” No. NU did lose the second quarter only by 2 points (19-17), but the score at the end of the quarter was 42-30. 

 

The third quarter wasn’t as bad as the first, either. UP did end the quarter up by 13 points, but NU played quite well also. They were very close to making a comeback. However, UP just resisted it, ending the quarter up 58-45. 

 

UP went on a huge run early in the fourth quarter. NU was no longer showing signs of a comeback. UP was ahead by more than 20 points at one point. And so, the game ended in a 79-54 victory for UP. What? Remember, in a previous blog, I said that the game would probably be close? Well, I was wrong. I guess I’m not the best at those things. 

 

So the Final Four is coming soon, and the matchups will be UP vs Ateneo and La Salle vs NU. UP and La Salle have the twice to beat advantage. If you don’t know how that works, read my previous post. My mom’s going crazy over UP vs Ateneo tickets. Okay, now I’m done. Bye!

UAAP Season 86 - Issue 1 (First Four Games) (Grade 4, PE, UAAP Basketball, October 15, 2023)

        Hey guys! I’m actually Emperor Augustus II from the OttoRoman Empire. If you also like history, please consider checking out that blog. 

So, this second blog is about the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). There are eight schools who send their athletes there, namely Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Far Eastern University (FEU), National University (NU), University of the East (UE), University of the Philippines (UP), and University of Santo Tomas (UST). Now that you have an idea on what the UAAP is, let’s begin. 

The first game I watched in full was UP vs Adamson. This was the women’s edition. UP kept a big lead for almost the entire game. Though I’m a neutral watcher, I enjoyed watching this UP team. 

Then I watched the men’s edition of the game. One highlight I remember was when a UP player made a half-court shot at the end of the 1st quarter. Anyway, the UP men got an easy win, just like their women counterparts. 

I didn’t watch Ateneo vs Adamson in full, but I luckily caught one highlight. An Adamson player named Vince Magbuhos (mag BOO hos) made a buzzer beater to win the game. And it was actually his birthday! If you wanna watch that, here’s the video: https://youtu.be/-zb8kkihuvE?si=edyh_IJ5u32MvJUp (Courtesy of One Sports). 

UP vs NU was the next game I watched in full. (I know I keep watching UP games.) UP got yet another easy win, and a lot of highlights, including dunks. A player named Francis Lopez made perhaps my favorite dunk of the game. Oh, and I ate three hotdogs that day. Just an interesting side note here. 

I then watched yet another UP game! UP vs FEU, to be specific. And it wasn't actually an easy win for UP. Francis Lopez made a “buzzer beater” at the end of the game. Why am I putting it in quotation marks? It didn’t count! But UP still won in overtime. 

However, FEU wouldn’t get back-to-back losses. It was close, but FEU beat Ateneo. Though Ateneo seemed like they would come back and win, especially after they forced overtime, two straight FEU baskets helped them win. And I was actually supporting Ateneo. Too bad for me, I guess. 

You guessed it! Another UP game! It’s UP vs UST! (I’m not tired of watching UP games. They’re actually quite entertaining.) I watched the women’s game too, again. It was close, and even went into overtime. But in overtime, UP won. 

Now for the men’s game. Again, UP got an easy win. Remember, this is amateur basketball. But UP even reached the 100-point mark! UST didn’t even reach 80 points. 

So, the next game I’m watching is on Wednesday. It’s La Salle (DLSU) vs… UP again! This might be a nice game, though, because La Salle is also a good team. The previous opponents (except for FEU) were not good enough for UP. 

Anyway guys, that’s it. Thanks for reading, and bye!

Mock Article (Grade 4, PE, UAAP Basketball, October 18, 2023

             UP made a huge rally against La Salle, winning 92-91. JD Cagulangan was the star of the game, making 29 points, 8 assists, and getting 9 steals. Malik Diouf was also a major contributor, making 9 blocks. 

 

            In the first quarter, La Salle went off to a quick start, making the first 12 shots to go 25-2 in just 4 minutes. Cagulangan committed 8 turnovers in that time period alone. Coach Goldwin Monteverde was heard saying, “I will cut Cagulangan as soon as I can.” The first quarter ended with La Salle up 47-2. 

 

The La Sallian minority remained where an ocean of maroon once was.

 

            In the second quarter, La Salle made 4 straight threes to go on a 12-0 run, up 59-2, thanks to 5 UP turnovers in just 18 seconds. UP called a timeout right after. Kevin Quimbao said, “As early as then [the timeout], I could already see UP fans leaving the arena, but the La Salle crowd was having the time of their lives, booing at the UP chants whenever they would be played.” The quarter ended with La Salle up 69-4. 

 

            At halftime, the La Salle performance was so loud, it could be heard from NAIA. But the UP performance was so quiet, because only two UP fans, Rafael Mercado and Rhuel Mercado, were there. Well, quiet from UP’s perspective. Because the whole time, the drums and pep squad were much quieter than the La Salle crowd chanting, “BOO!!!”

 

            In the third quarter, La Salle continued destroying the fallen empire of UP. La Salle fans started moving behind the UP bench and throwing bananas. The quarter ended with La Salle still up, 88-10. 

 

            But in the fourth quarter, UP made a huge rally. La Salle was not even able to inbound successfully for 9 minutes, with UP making 100 steals in the quarter alone. Finally, with 1:52 left, La Salle up 88-86, Harold Alarcon

made a three to put UP up, 89-88. Malik Diouf then blocked Kevin Quimbao, who was trying to make a layup. UP fans who were still in the area tried to re-enter, but could not because of the MOA Arena’s no re-entry policy. So only two fans were actually happy. 

 

The La Salle crowd finally cheered after utter silence for almost 10 minutes. 

 

            However, with 9 seconds left, and the La Salle crowd, actually, the whole crowd quiet, Evan Nelle made a desperation three to put La Salle up, 91-89. The decibel rate went up from 2 dB to 890 dB. You could even hear it as far as Sucat. Not yet in the penalty, La Salle kept fouling UP. But with just 0.7 seconds left, CJ Cansino made a full-court shot to win the game, 92-91. And so, only Rafael and Rhuel were left cheering. La Salle fans left immediately, refusing to sing their school hymn.