After a long and grueling season, this year’s La Salle Athletic League (LSAL) Basketball Tournament ended with a finals match between two of the league’s best teams. In a one-sided showdown last March 17, GH Republic from the yellow bracket blew out Kalsonics from the green bracket, 75-47, to be crowned as the new champions of the 76-team tourney organized by the La Salle Sports Commission (LSSC) that was also sponsored by Slam Magazine and basketball specialty store and barbershop, Titan.
Former Green Archer and tournament MVP Martin Reyes led the charge for the first-place finishers, scoring 22 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. He got ample support from teammates Jio Henares and Roland Galang, who finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The road to the finals
Both finalists entered the final game of the season undefeated, boasting six wins in as many games. Kalsonics emerged from the green bracket, and eventually routed DLSU Sports in the round of 16 and Channing Tateam in the quarter-final round.
In the semifinals, the team mainly composed of Colegio San Agustin-Makati graduates pulled off a 67-64 victory to upset the defending champions, Buckets, which featured former Green Archer Gabby Reyes and former Team B player Kiko Velhagen. With time expiring off a missed Buckets free throw in the fourth quarter, Kalsonics wingman Eduard Bascon managed to convert a heave from beyond the halfcourt line in spectacular fashion to book his team a ticket to the finals.
GH Republic, which is composed of players coming mostly from La Salle Green Hills, overcame their rivals from the yellow bracket and proceeded to the knockout rounds, where they overcame the Azkals in the round of 16, and Baroney, which featured a number of former DLSZ Junior Archers, in the quarter-final round. The team went on to eliminate last season’s runner-up, Opayi, with a 77-67 victory to advance to the finals and eventually take home the title over Kalsonics.
Moving forward
GH Republic point guard Bene Lopez joined Reyes in the Mythical Five, along with sharpshooter Angelo Calma from Opayi, Santiago Teodoro of Kalsonics, and Velhagen. Cloud Buddies’ Kristoffer Co came away as the season’s Scoring Champion, while Air Force 1’s Ian Lipio took home the Rookie of the Year honors.
LSSC Commissioner Vic Sebastian had positive comments with regard to how the many teams in this year’s tournament fared against each other.
“It was great. Tumaas yung standard competition, kasi maraming teams na nagpalakas especially for the prize,” the outgoing commissioner mentions.
The league has improved leaps and bounds since Sebastian took over the post. One of his first acts as commissioner was to partner with sporting giants Titan and Slam Magazine for a sponsorship agreement. This enabled LSAL to expand in terms of the number of participating teams. In his second year as commissioner, he was able to bring in scoreboards to be used in all games, furthering the tournament’s legitimacy. In addition to this, he also opened the league to alumni players, hoping to strengthen the playing field.
When asked where LSAL Basketball is headed after he leaves, Sebastian had nothing but good things to say about the future of the annual cagefest.
“From now on, we’re in a good place kasi may hardworking team. Alam kong kaya na nila yan (organizing and managing the tournament) next year. Alam kong kaya nilang lagpasan yung mga nagawa ko,” he says.
