The Battle for Evermore

The Battle for Evermore*
Ateneo-La Salle Memories
by rick olivares

Circle those dates in red. Those Ateneo-La Salle games. They’ll be the hottest tickets to any event on any given year and now they're back in the UAAP Finals for a fourth time. Year after year, the games are etched into the collective consciousness of not just the two schools but of a nation that watches with bated breath the latest chapter of a rivalry for the ages. It’s a rivalry that fixates and transcends generations. To say that they are merely basketball games is like saying that Michael Jordan is just a basketball player. These high-stakes, high-drama games even before they are played out are deemed as instant classics. What follows is the rivalry in the words of former Blue Eagles who took part in the games.

Boy Ijares, 1969 NCAA Champions
The one thing that I remember most about our games against La Salle was that Joaqui Trillo would shadow Chito Afable wherever he’d go. That was Tito Eduque’s strategy, stick to Afable like glue. When Chito would go to the bench, Joaqui would follow him to the Ateneo bench before heading over to his own. Para lang paalala niya na “Hey, I’m here wherever you go.” Sure enough, when Chito would go back in, Joaqui would check right back in. Kung pwede hanggang sa Loyola Heights, susunod yan si Joaqui. But when we were playing back then, there wasn’t anyone in the league who could guard Chito Afable.

Chito Afable, 1969 NCAA Champions
We were playing La Salle at Loyola Center and I remember that it was raining real hard then. The rain was dripping all over the floor that they had to call timeouts just to mop the floor dry. With time down to five seconds left in the game, La Salle was leading by one point and I had two free throws. I missed both! If we had won that game, we would have had a very good chance to make it to the championship. I felt really bad for a long time about missing that shot. It wasn’t until we won the championship the following year that I sort of forgave myself.

Steve Watson, 1976 & 1977 NCAA Champions
I was still a senior in high school when I was playing for the college team. In my first year for the Blue Eagles, there was this Dream Game between Ateneo and La Salle. The game was at the Araneta Coliseum and I was playing with a team that was a mix of the ’69 champs and the team that I was playing with. All my idols were there, Tito Panlilio, Chito Mistades, Boysie Henares, and Bobong Velez. Here I was, a high school kid playing with all these guys I used to watch. It was really in every sense of the word, a dream game. And fortunately for us, we just killed them that game.

Jimmy Alabanza
I went up against the Billy and Dini Manotoc brothers, yung shooter nila si Vince Misa, the Valdez brothers, and Tito Eduque was coaching. Marami nang hooliganism during those times. When we passed by Taft, the Ateneo bus was pelted a lot of billiard balls. Suntukan and wasakan ng windshield.

The rivalry was there but a lot of players were friends. Iba kasi we grew up with them when they were in the juniors they went up to the college. Monico Puentebella came from LA Bacolod then sa Taft when I was captain in fourth year he was there. At that time La Salle was a student-athletes’ team. After the games we shook hands and even dated the sisters of their players.

Our teams did not win the championship then but we were the only teams to be invited to play in Guam for a friendly series. Not the champion team.

Sonny Tadeo, 2002 UAAP Champions
Game 1 of the 2002 Championship is something I’ll always remember. Coach Joel (Banal) is a stats guy all the way. He showed us these stats that said that teams that usually won Game 1 usually won the championship. The percentage of that statistic is much better in the UAAP than even the NBA. So we were conditioned to just go all out and get Game 1. There were even these huge streamers in Moro (Lorenzo Sports Center) that even said, “Get Game 1.” That’s how important that game was. And when Larry blocked Mac Mac in the final seconds of the game, we knew that the championship was ours. But we were so overconfident that we were flat in Game 2. But winning Game 1 was a boost for our morale and gave us the confidence to beat La Salle in a championship series.

Bajjie Del Rosario, 2002 UAAP Champions
Ah daming memories sa Ateneo-La Salle. Yung isang hindi ko makakalimutan ay yung trash talking at taunting. Grabe yun. Minumura ka ng mga players nila, pati coaches kasama doon. Yung mga nakaupo sa likod ng bench nila sobra rin. Personalan na. Grabe.

And very physical yung mga games. Si Carlo Sharma ibang klase yun. Pati mga assistant coach nila sa La Salle minumura rin daw niya. Sinapak nga si Rich (Alvarez) minsan. Tapos si Enrico (Villanueva) at si (Mike) Cortez nagsasagutan din. Si Wes (Gonzalez) at si BJ ganyan din. Bingiyan din ni Enrico ng siko si Adonis Sta. Maria na tinapakan din ni ST (Sonny Tadeo).

Ibang klase. Wild din. Pero masaya. Hahahaha. Kilala ka ng lahat ng mga tao. Instant celebrity ka.

Jet Nieto, 1987 & 1988 UAAP Champions
In 1988, we played La Salle in a post-season exhibition game in Bacolod. Nagkaroon ng away with the La Salle players and it took awhile before order was restored. After the game, nagpunta na kami sa hotel namin. Nasa second floor kami. Ang La Salle sa third floor. After dinner, umakyat yung team sa floor ng La Salle para manood ng tape ng game with the La Salle players. Pati yung away pinanood nila. Medyo nahiya kami ni Gene (Afable) kasi kami yung nakipagaway so naiwan na lang kami sa kwarto namin.

Sandy Arespacochaga
The 1996 second round game against La Salle game is a very memorable one for me. That was the game where we knocked them out with, I think, 17 three-point shots. And we went on to beat them by a huge margin – mga 20-plus points. If it weren’t for my two points during that game, hindi ganun kalaki yung lamang namin.

Chito Afable
La Salle didn’t have a very good team then. The teams that we were really looking out for were Mapua and Letran. But as it is with any Ateneo-La Salle game, you had to take the game seriously kasi kahit mas mahina yung isang team, aangat yung laro.

Jet Nieto
I remember when Jayvee (Gayoso) first suited up for La Salle. That was a game held at Loyola Center and puno yung gym. Those were the years when we owned La Salle. In all my playing years at Ateneo, they only beat us once kahit anong liga -- UAAP, MMBL, National Seniors etc. In that game, each time Jayvee touched the ball, he was really booed. Siyempre, masama yung laro. Sa amin, medyo weird na iba yung uniform niya, but we understood. But for the Ateneo crowd in the stands, they weren’t too happy about it so they let him have it. So yung nangyari kay BJ Manalo, nakita na namin yun. But unlike BJ, Jayvee was able to go back and help lead Ateneo to a couple of championships.

Gabby Cui
It was a difficult transition from De La Salle-Zobel to Ateneo. My friends would ask me about it. They’d tease me. Minsan pa may mga bad vibes and comments na masakit. But I wanted to expand my horizons, meet new people. Basically, I saw the light … hahaha. Even when I was at DLSZ, I really liked the cheers of Ateneo lalo na yung drumming. It just gave me goose bumps every time I heard them. So how did I feel when I first put on the blue and white and entered the court to those drums and cheers? Awesome, dude. Awesome.

Wesley Gonzalez, 2002 UAAP Champions
Those were the days -- parang napakatagal na no? Of course, we're all friends now. Pero iba then. Intense. Yung walang bigayan. Maybe if I played in 2001 we would have beaten them. (laughs) Joke lang. Seriously, you always had to be prepared for La Salle. Hindi lang yung plays but everything else. Trash talking. Meron taunting. Yung crowd lalo na. It's different. I don't think I have ever played better and more intense games than Ateneo-La Salle. You never wanted to lose to them. Pero I ah, I remember Larry's blocks and Epok's three. It is great to be a part of the revival of Ateneo basketball.

Steve Watson
I looked forward to every game against La Salle. I just loved beating those guys.

* The title is from an old Led Zeppelin song.