NCAA Basketball Championship (Philippines) - History

History

• 1924: The NCAA began its first season. In basketball, the Ateneo de Manila won the Midgets title, De La Salle College won the Juniors title, and the University of the Philippines won the seniors title.
• 1927: San Beda won their first Seniors title in the NCAA's fourth season.
• 1928: Letran joined the NCAA. On the same year the Squires won their first juniors championship and then went on winning two more, thus establishing NCAA's first three consecutive juniors championships.
• 1936: UP and UST withdrew permanently from the NCAA. FEU also withdrew.
• 1939: A pair of Ateneo-La Salle Final games were held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The juniors La Salle team defeated the Ateneo juniors team, while later on the day the La Salle seniors team defeated the Ateneo seniors team. The La Salle seniors team captured their first NCAA Basketball title.
• 1941: Ateneo de Manila and Jose Rizal College won the last basketball championships before the start of World War II.
• 1947: The Championship Game went into the last shot, which led to La Salle winning the first basketball championship after the Pacific War, against Mapua.
• 1950: At the final game of the elimination round, the Letran Knights were assured of a title, for they've won the two rounds, but the San Beda Red Lions beat them on the final non-bearing game, depriving them of a season sweep.
• 1955: San Beda won the three-legged Crispulo Zamora Cup defeating Ateneo de Manila.
• 1962: At the Final game, a riot ensued when Mapua supporters alleged that a referee favored the Ateneo team. The Eagles won the game, and the championship.
• 1972: The JRC Heavy Bombers won their last (as of 2010) NCAA title, with all of the team's starting five being drafted to the newly formed Philippine Basketball Association three years later.
• 1973: The SSC-R Golden Stags, led by David Supnet, won their first ever NCAA Seniors Basketball crown.
• 1974: First round pennant winners La Salle defeated second round pennant winners Ateneo 90-80 to win the NCAA championship. Lim Eng Beng, who held the all-time points per game average (32 ppg) breaks NCAA record of most points scored in a game (55 pts).
• 1975: La Salle chose the up-and-coming La Salle-Green Hills as their new Juniors' counterpart after the original La Salle High School phased out.
• 1977: In the 1977 Finals series, Ateneo de Manila and San Beda had their melee at the Araneta Coliseum. This led to a closed-door match, wherein Ateneo de Manila's Pons Valdez's last shot was disallowed as time expired, giving San Beda the victory.
• 1978: League-wide violence led to the withdrawal of Ateneo de Manila from the NCAA. At the time Ateneo de Manila left, it had the most number of titles in men's basketball, a record that would only be tied and surpassed in 2003. San Beda withdrew in 1982 but came back in 1986.
• 1980: La Salle fans and Letran supporters engaged themselves in a brawl during the second round of eliminations in the 1980 season. The Rizal Memorial Coliseum was wrecked apart as the two sides ripped apart the chairs bolted to the ground and threw them as weapons. The Basketball Association of the Philippines aborted the 1980 season and suspended Letran in all events. In 1981, the league readmitted Letran, which led to La Salle withdrawing from the NCAA. La Salle went to the UAAP, but was denied membership on their first try (with a vote of 5-2, with Ateneo de Manila and UST voting against). La Salle was finally admitted to the UAAP in 1986 but was required to drop LSGH as their Juniors' counterpart. La Salle chose La Salle-Zobel as their new high school team.
• 1982: Avelino Lim led the Knights to two pennants, scrapping the championship round, with their only loss coming from the San Sebastian Golden Stags. This would be the start of a three-year championship streak of Letran.
• 1985: The SSC-R Golden Stags won their second NCAA Seniors Basketball crown and their first in twelve years. They also ended Letran's championship streak at 3. Alvin Patrimonio of the Mapua Cardinals won the season MVP plum.
• 1988: The SSC-R Golden Stags became the first team in NCAA history to sweep the Seniors Basketball tournament. They won the first and second round pennants and ended up as eventual champions with a 10-0 record. 1987 NCAA MVP Eugene Quilban won his back-to-back MVP award. Paul Alvarez played in his last NCAA season and ended up as a champion.
• 1989: Only in their fifth year in the league, the Perpetual Help Altas, led by season MVP Eric Clement Quiday and Rene "Bong" Hawkins barged into the NCAA Finals. However, they were beaten by the defending champions, the SSC-R Golden Stags, in the three-game series. The Stags' Eugene Quilban, who played in his last season, was named as the best player of the series-clinching game.
• 1991: Benito Cheng of Mapua scored on the last second of the deciding Game 3 to deny San Beda the championship at the ULTRA. The Cardinals snapped their "once in sixteen years" championship curse as the Red Lions extended their title drought to 13 years. MVP Antonio Valeriano of the Lions was a non-factor in the championship round.
• 1993: Season MVP Jesse Bardaje and rookie Ulysses Tanigue led the SSC-R Golden Stags to the first of five straight NCAA Seniors Basketball crowns. Led by Tanigue's 27 points, the Stags clinched the championship during their ninth game of the season via a 110-76 rout over the Letran Knights for an 8-1 record. With the win, the team copped the second round pennant and the automatic championship for the season. The newly crowned champion Stags finished with an overall record of 8-2 after losing their non-bearing last game to the Mapua Cardinals. Coach Arturo "Turo" Valenzona won his first championship in the NCAA.
• 1994: The SSC-R Golden Stags achieved the second clean sweep in NCAA Seniors' Basketball history and automatically won the championship. The team finished with a 10-0 record. Stags John Rodney Santos and Romel Adducul received the season MVP and Rookie of the Year awards, respectively.
• 1995: The SSC-R Golden Stags made their first ever three-peat championship and became the fifth team to do so in NCAA Seniors Basketball history. The Stags raced to a 9-0 start for a 19-game winning streak dating back to the previous season before losing their last regular season game against the MVP Ruben Dela Rosa led-Mapua Cardinals, the second round pennant winner they eventually swept in the best-of-three Finals to end up with an 11-1 card.
• 1996: The SSC-R Golden Stags became the first team in NCAA history to win four straight Seniors Basketball crowns. They swept the second round pennant winner SBC Red Lions in the best-of-three Finals to end up with an overall record of 12-2. Romel Adducul was named as the NCAA MVP. SSC-R also celebrated its 50th (Golden) anniversary as an academic institution.
• 1997: San Sebastian College-Recoletos, which was led by the Sensational Six in back-to-back MVP Romel Adducul, Aramis Calpito, Jasper Ocampo, Ulysses Tanigue, Brixter Encarnacion, and team captain Rommel Daep, made a 12-0 seniors regular season sweep. All six players won their fourth championship individually, with Adducul, Calpito, and Ocampo winning four straight dating back to 1994. The Golden Stags faced San Beda in the Finals with a twice-to-beat advantage and prevailed, 84-72, after leading by just four at halftime. They capped off a five-year run as NCAA champions by way of another clean sweep, the third in NCAA Seniors Basketball history, with an overall record of 13-0. The Stags also averaged 89.5 points per game during the season while limiting their opponents to 69.16 points per contest. Reserves Jerome Barbosa, Michael "Topex" Robinson, Alvin Pua, and rookie Mark Macapagal were also part of the legendary 1997 San Sebastian team, arguably the best and most dominating team in NCAA history. Rookie coach Arturo "Bay" Cristobal piloted the team. The Stags' Sensational Six left after the 1997 season, leaving behind a young squad which will be eventually led in 1998 by Barbosa, Robinson, Macapagal, Pua, and rookies Homer Se and Christian Coronel, the 1998 Rookie of the Year.
• 1998: St. Benilde is admitted to the NCAA while La Salle-Green Hills returns to the league after a 17-year absence. The Letran Knights, led by rookie coach Luis Francisco "Louie" Alas, NCAA "oldie" Christian Calaguio (1998 NCAA MVP) and promising sophomore Kerby Raymundo (1997 Rookie of the Year), capitalized on the departure of the Sensational Six and won the NCAA Seniors Basketball crown.
• 1999: The Letran Knights became the first fourth-seeded team to upset the top seed in the NCAA Final Four when they defeated the SSC-R Golden Stags twice. That feat was soon duplicated by the Golden Stags the following season when they beat the JRC Heavy Bombers twice to enter the 2000 NCAA Finals. The Knights also won the 1999 NCAA Seniors Basketball crown against the Heavy Bombers in a fight-marred championship series. That was their 14th NCAA Seniors Basketball title and it tied them with the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles for the most NCAA Seniors Basketball crowns. They were led by 1999 NCAA MVP Kerby Raymundo, Allan Salangsang, John Paul Prior, William "Billy" Moody, Orlann Tama, and rookie coach Vincent "Binky" Favis.
• 2000: College of Saint of Benilde won their first NCAA seniors title despite joining the league only two seasons ago. This marks the fastest win for any new school in the league since the World War. In the Juniors Finals, the Letran Squires qualified outright for the Finals with a 14-0 record. However, they were beaten twice by the Mapua Red Robins in the Finals. This was the last Juniors championship of the Mapua Institute of Technology prior to phasing out the old Mapua High School.
• 2003: The Letran Knights became the winningest team in NCAA Seniors Basketball history after clinching their 15th crown. They defeated the defending champions SSC-R Golden Stags in the Finals. Ronjay Enrile was named as the 2003 NCAA Finals MVP.
• 2004: The NCAA Seniors Finals featured two schools that have never won a championship before, Philippine Christian University and the newly renamed University of Perpetual Help Dalta System. The PCU Dolphins won the series in two games, with Gabriel Espinas becoming the first-ever Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year within the same season.
• 2006: San Beda finally broke their 28-year championship drought as they edged out three-time finalist PCU Dolphins in the final game that went down the wire. Rookie MVP Samuel Ekwe and Finals MVP Yousif Aljamal led the Red Lions, which became the 3rd winningest team in NCAA Seniors Basketball history with 12 crowns.
• 2009: The SSC-R Golden Stags broke San Beda's three-year championship run with a 2–0 sweep in their finals series. The Stags won their first 15 games, a league seniors' basketball record, and ended their 7-year title drought. They also won a total of 19 games, an all-time season record in the league. San Sebastian's last finals appearance was in 2003, losing to Letran in 3 games.
• 2010: San Beda made a 16-0 sweep in the elimination round. They also swept the finals which makes their record a historic 18-0.
• 2011: San Sebastian stopped San Beda's 26-game winning streak since 2010 by beating them on their 1st round meeting but San Beda got their revenge on the 2nd round over San Sebastian and forced a playoff for number 1 seed which San Beda won. For the sixth year in a row San Beda ended the elimination round as the number one team & went on to the Finals. San Beda then went on to win their 2nd championship in a row by sweeping San Sebastian in the Finals once again.
• 2012: San Beda becomes the winningest team in the league, with 17 championships, by beating Letran in the finals. This is their sixth championship in seven years and their seventh consecutive finals appearance.

See also: NCAA history and rivalries