All posts tagged Ren Ren Ritualo

Part Four: A Test of Wills

To understand how it all went wrong the following season, I’ll have to summarise my credentials at that point. We had just won the UAAP championship after so long, I was part of the Mythical Five with Don and Ren-Ren. I went to the PBL, we won the championship with Welcoat again, I was in the Mythical Five; I mean, in the second team was Jimwell Torion(!) I had good teammates and I’m the sort who becomes a better player with good teammates. Game 1 of the PBL Finals, I was named best player after I scored 25 points. Game 2, I only scored five points but my three pointer was the winning shot; we were down two points against Red Bull and we won the championship in five games.

Then there was the Battle of the Champions tournament against Chris Calaguio and Kerby Raymundo of Letran, the NCAA champions. But along the way we played UV (University of the Visayas), and all the other schools. I remember in the final game I scored 21, had double-digit assists, five steals and we won the championship. I was judged MVP of the tournament. It suggested I was probably the best amateur player at that time since all the amateur leagues in the whole country were represented there.

Then before anyone realised, the 1999 UAAP season had arrived. Everyone was still scared of the “Big Three.” But I remember our first game against UE; UE was a so-so team that year but we nearly lost; we just worked hard, caught up, and we won but my game, Don’s and Ren-Ren’s were all sub-par. Same with the second game. Then the third game we lost against UST.

It really was true that we were playing sub-par for much of that season. But that was because we had not had any rest since the day we won the (previous year’s) championship. It would have been easier if those of us in the PBL were playing for (weaker) teams like Zesto. But we made it to the PBL Finals with Welcoat, playing all the games with major minutes. It was pretty difficult. Ren-Ren wasn’t doing any better. I remember he even bumped his head in practice and we lost him practically the whole of the first round. The only one who was playing well was Don, and even then he wasn’t the Don of ‘98.

So Franz decided to bench me, which at the time really puzzled me. I had the credentials coming in, I was the main point guard of a champion team. Maybe he had his reasons and I can’t really argue. Maybe he was just disappointed because he was expecting so much from me and I wasn’t delivering for the reason na na burn-out na rin siguro ako.

What does it feel like to be burned out during the season? Put it this way: if I scored it was nothing to me, if the opponent scored it was nothing either. It’s like eating a full meal and then going to the best buffet place in the whole country. Even if you see the best Angus rib-eye there, you still taste it but you won’t eat the way you eat when you’re hungry. I found myself just wanting to finish the game, hoping we’d win so that at least hindi magagalit si Franz, but it wasn’t like ‘98 when we said gawin niyo lahat ng gusto niyong gawin, di kayo mananalo.

It was so difficult. During practice, I wasn’t even in the rotation. When people were interviewing me, they asked if I was injured and I couldn’t say yes because that would destroy my prospects. I mean, how would pro teams recruit me if I kept getting injured? I remember that there were even rumours that I was selling games and it was very painful. My family is made of sore losers. I mean, if you think my brother’s bad, wait till you see the others…

Franz started talking to me again days before the end of the second round. We had one more game against UST. If we won, we’d march into the Final Four as the number one team. If we lost, we’d be number two.

I think everyone remembers that as the game Don and I went AWOL. But there’s a story behind it. Don and I went to buy flowers in Alabang for our team’s “second mother”. Then it rained that afternoon. It rained so hard that wala na talagang gumagalaw. What was complicated for me was ayun na nga eh, kinakausap na nga ako ni Franz, maglalaro na nga ako, andun na nga ako, then ganoon pa ang mangyayari bigla…

The panelists covering the game were pouring it on too. “Is this a conspiracy against Franz?” they asked. And then as the game went on, they said “we’ve just spotted Allado and Aldeguer running on Katipunan!” Actually, we just went home, useless na eh. But Franz knew Don and I were best of friends so it’s possible he may have thought it was a conspiracy against him. In the Philippine Star the next day, there was a story reporting that “Allado and Aldeguer upset Franz.” The first line that Franz said in reply was: “I don’t need credentials, I need performance.”

But La Salle won that game without us. Ren-Ren scored 35 points in that game and believe me, all of us thanked him. We didn’t know how it would be. We thought we’d be in the doghouse but in the end Franz understood because the even the Juniors defaulted their game. So Franz must have realised our reason was valid.

So yes, Franz started talking to me again days before the Final Four, nawala na yata yung tampo niya. Then in the first half of the Final Four game against FEU, for whatever reason, after five minutes or seven minutes of the game, he called my name. I didn’t understand at first; he’d usually call me the last three minutes or so of a game. Even my teammates were surprised but I think they knew how depressed I had been. I made some mistakes after entering because I hadn’t played for so long. But he called me aside at one point and said, “you’re playing a great game. Just concentrate.” And I think I ended up scoring about 14 points that game.

So there we were, in the Finals against UST. Game 1, gamit ako. I was looking forward to being on court, but in the end I committed a crucial turnover that cost us the game. We lost, and I thought that was it. But Franz said to the papers “we’re still going to win.” We won Game 2 convincingly. Then as Game 3 approached, Franz came into practice and announced, “we’re not going to play in Cuneta.”

He didn’t want to play the game in Cuneta; the coaching staff were still looking for ways to change the venue because of the jinx (the same way we never had number 13 in our team). We’d never won in Cuneta, what made us think we could win then? Problema nun, UST didn’t agree.

On the morning of that game, I was in church in Alabang. I’m a born again Christian and was going to Alabang New Life. I had the church pray for me and my prayer was, “Lord, you have to show up. I’ve held on for so long when in fact I wanted to give up. I’ve been tried as a person. If you don’t show up now, I’ll never have the chance.”

I played that game with a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) band on my wrist. Strangely, I felt confident about the game coming into the dugout that day. But you could see people were crying, the players were really nervous. When I got there, I was laughing saying “Pare hi, kamusta?” and cracking jokes. Don went up to me and said, “You’re not supposed to do this.” But I told him, “Trust me, we’re going to win this game.” Because I believed that God owed me one (chuckles). After putting me in the doghouse, I thought God wouldn’t put you through the desert without bringing you to the promised land.

True enough, if you watch the footage, ten minutes pa lang, Joaqui Trillo says, “they’re putting the veterans back in early.” Even at the point when I was in foul trouble, Franz kept me in the game. There was a play in which we got the rebound and I came out and shot a three with still so much time. The feeling was that I couldn’t do anything wrong, they couldn’t do anything to me. On one foot, I made a running shot by the elbow. My teammates were hugging me and I just said, “don’t worry, we’re going to win this game.”

Then the second half came and all of a sudden, we couldn’t score. UST led by 12 points, we couldn’t do anything right. The most difficult part was dealing with their crowd; they were wild.

But then UST celebrated too early, they started hurrying their offence. Don Allado made a turn-around shot, foul counted, Willy Wilson picked up. I scored on a jumper; all of a sudden we were back. We were still down two points, UST didn’t score but Mon Jose put up an airball; he had a bad game that day, umakyat yata yung daga.

When I think about that last play in regulation, I can’t help feeling it really was divine intervention. Don had taken a shot in the previous play and missed; the jumpball went to Ren-Ren and he missed. The only one of the “Big Three” who wasn’t given an attempt at it was me. Gilbert Lao got the rebound and was fouled. Actually, if Gilbert Lao had made one shot, ayun na. But he missed the first then got the second.

On the last play, Ren-Ren nearly forced the shot. The option was if Ren-Ren got the screen and he had the shot, he’d take it. If not, he’d pass to me then I’d pass to Mon. That was the play. But when the ball was passed to me, sabi ko “why not go for the shot, this is history.” And if you notice, when I took the shot, it was with full confidence.

It went in. After all that time in the desert, so lost, then to come up with that shot. My brother-in-law Binky Favis was one of UST’s consultants at the time. He said, “stop Aldeguer and you stop La Salle – not because I scored but because I wouldn’t get the ball to Ritualo. So they put Gelig on me the whole game, a taller guard, pretty athletic. He fouled me as I took the shot. Of course I’d like to think that maybe the foul actually helped the shot in.

When the shot went in, I just held up my arms. I felt like crying but that was only because I’d been in the desert so long, I couldn’t believe that something like that would come. Then UST called time. To this day, I believe that if UST didn’t call the timeout, I would have made that free throw.

You know why? I remember that during the timeout Alvin Castro came to me and said, “pare, pang-Europe na natin ‘to.” And when you start thinking about those things, it puts something in your head. So with the score tied, I took the free throw and missed; but if you notice, I got the rebound. Had that gone in, counted pa yun, that would have been something (laughs).

I remember Mon Jose and the guys mobbing me when I made the three pointer, Ren-Ren kissing me on the forehead in front of thousands of people. One thing that Mon said that stayed with me, he told us during the timeout just before Franz was about to draw up a play: “Dino got us here to overtime. Let’s make sure we win it for him. It’s our turn to do the job.”

Overtime started, I scored the first four points. In overtime, when you lead by four, ok na yan, but UST got a three pointer without even running a play, then scored to take the lead. It was touch and go after that. Then with about a minute left in the extra period, I fouled out. My adrenaline was so high, my desire, I wanted to win so badly, I was trying to defend everybody, lahat na lang ng puede kong bantayan. Ang finoul ko nga si Ortiguerra yung sentro, he was holding the ball. When I fouled him, I knew it was my last year, my last game. I went weak when I realised it.

And then all of a sudden, I heard the whole La Salle side cheering “Dino, Dino.” Everyone stood up to give me an ovation and the game wasn’t over! In fact, there was a slight delay because all of a sudden the referees couldn’t inbound the ball. I waved my hand just to say goodbye.

What a great feeling from being on the bench to people applauding you because of what you had done. In the footage, you see the crowd, everybody was standing up as I was coming to the bench, and each of the players gave me a hug. The first guy I went to was Don. He was the guy I was looking for, the one who always told me “Hang in there, bro, hang in there.” It was funny, Fritz Ynfante all of a sudden bowing to me. They don’t normally do that. Then I went to my family, my dad, mom, brother, sister, my girlfriend, because during the time I was lonely and depressed, they were the ones I could count on. They were the only ones who stuck it out.

After the game, I remember walking through the Ampitheatre, walking to the College Canteen. People were all there, I was with my girlfriend, now my wife, and we heard the host announce, “the hero is coming!” It meant so much because of where I came from, I was devastated, I was lost, wala ako noon.

It was a bit funny and awkward when Franz made his speech, though. Everyone knew what it had been like between us the whole year. So Franz thanked everybody, he began thanking each player individually. Then everyone was already piling on the kantiyaw because they knew. Then he went, “and lastly…alam niyo naman ito, paborito kong player…” Everyone just cracked up after that.

But what a great way to end a final year. I wonder sometimes, why can’t every Lasallite go out that way?

Part Three: Victory Rituals

As we started getting used to the way Franz wanted us to play, we felt pretty confident and strong. We only lost twice in that 1998 season, both times against UST. We swept the first round though, so come the Final Four, the entire league was so scared of the “Big Three,” that was me, Don, and Ren-Ren. There was a reason for that: Don was number one in stats, I was number two, Ren-Ren was number three. Those were the best times for me stat-wise; I averaged double-doubles, assists and points, then led the league in steals. Basketball was fun with those guys because we were winning and winning.

We ended up number one, but UST beat us in the first game of the Final Four. You can just imagine how scary it was because the jinx came back. On paper, UST was weak compared to us; five of our players were in the PBL, three of us were in the PBL Mythical Five – then we lose the first game!

All of us were dead scared. I remember in the dugout, we were dead scared and thinking it’s going to happen again. I remember what (former Green Archers head coach) Derrick told us, though. Back in the dugout, UST was shouting and so excited, jumping for joy. One of the guys wanted to close the door to the dugout and Derrick Pumaren said “No, don’t close the door. You listen to how they’re cheering. You listen.” We were all there sitting and we could hear them shouting, although they still had to win one more game. Derrick made a good statement saying, “If you don’t want to hear that again, make sure it doesn’t happen the next time you play. Make sure you have it in mind.”

That was the one time in my career I was so scared because during those times if you remember, whenever UST would be in that situation down the wire, it would be Dale Singson isolating the point guard. Against Tony Boy (Espinosa), he makes a layup. Against Jason Webb, he runs, fakes then makes a jumper in his face. I was the next victim in line. I knew that; in the Juniors I used to watch it happen. Every time UST needed a play, 1-4, everyone could see it coming but it still happened. I don’t think there’s ever been a point guard as scary as Dale; he was tall, aggressive, he once gave me four stitches.

But the next game, we came in all focused, wanting to go to war. I remember coming into the game, punong-puno yung Araneta, we were up by a small lead at the half and then Aric (del Rosario, UST head coach) made his grand entrance from Pampanga. Their crowd went really wild when he came in. We were all so scared because Aric was the author of all those UST championships. He used a helicopter and I thought, well, things might happen. The game was close but I stole off Dale Singson in the last minute. They were up by a few points, but I blocked his drive, he picked up the ball and looked for someone to pass to and then I stole off him. After that, I think the game was broken. We won and Franz turned out to be right when he said “I’m still confident we’ll win the series.” He knew we were going to win and when we entered the Finals we put their championship ambitions to rest again.

Then the Finals rematch against FEU. We were just too dominating; we won the first game by more than 20 points. We were just so excited the last two minutes of that first game; we couldn’t believe we were so close to winning a championship after nearly ten years. But (Green Archers team consultant) Derrick Pumaren came out of his seat, jumped into the players’ bench and told us “I don’t want anybody jumping for joy or celebrating!!!” – and I love what he said then – “the trophy is still with the other team!!!” We’d just won Game 1 but nothing had been accomplished. That’s what they told us. So at the final buzzer, we all just shook hands and treated it as another game, then went to the dugout. Derrick reminded us to keep our heads – which was really helpful because you have to remember that up until that time, we’d never known what it was like to win a Game 1. And we won by 20 points, so what did that tell you? It told us we were going to win the championship! But he told us not to even buy newspapers. He said he’d go with us to buy all the newspapers we wanted after we won the championship. But as long as we’ve not won, he said, no one buys, we just practise.

During the last hard practice, Franz called the three of us: me, Don, and Ren-Ren. He said, “this is the last game, this is the moment, this is history, this is the time to win the championship.” I remember him telling us: “where the three of you bring the team, that’s where the team goes.” He said “I need you guys, it’s winning time. Where you go, the team goes.”

Game 2 came and it was scary, the game was close all the way with all the lead changes. All of a sudden at this point in the second half, we couldn’t steal the ball. All of a sudden, FEU was playing good defence and breaking our press. Too close, it was scary; and even when I was bringing down the ball I felt it. Also, we still had that gorilla on our back saying we couldn’t win it. What did the newspapers say? Will they be the bride this time? Watch that – even Ren-Ren couldn’t hit anything until the end! He only hit one three pointer. Even Don was tight. We were plagued by the thought na “eto na yun”, and the whole history of it. And the crowd also knew – they’d been there before and had gone through all the heartbreaks. I mean, if you hadn’t had five or six heartbreaking games in the past, you would have said “atin na yan!” But because everyone knew the history, it seemed too good to be true for La Salle to win. Even for us.

But Pumaren kept saying we could win it. He kept saying, “you guys have to remove the thinking that you’re just runners up!” One other guy who just told us to believe was Johnny Valdes, our manager after Danny Jose. He said “guys, you can win it!” – but no one believed. History would tell us we’d always just been so close.

But Ren-Ren hit that three point shot, made a steal then was fouled, and shot those free throws. Watch the end of the game. By that time we were up four or five points. Six seconds to go, two FEU guys are about to foul me. I was so scared thinking if they fouled me, mamaya I don’t shoot the free throws, they score, then may mangyari pang milagro. So you know what I did? I threw the ball at the ceiling! Inside I was telling my guard, if you want the ball, pare go get it! But don’t foul me anymore because I might spoil the party! It’s funny but in those six seconds, the officials should have stopped the game, but they let the time run…

And that’s when the unbelievable happened. I was told that La Salle had to pay a huge amount of money for all the damaged fixtures. The entire court was covered in an invasion. Yung mga tali around the court – pare, useless! You couldn’t see the floor. Some championships today, people just say, yes we won. But that one was dramatic. It was all those bridesmaid finishes, to be so close all those years. It was wild. Coming home, I had blood on my arms and my face, I couldn’t see where to pass, where the players were. You know how we found our way? Don climbed one ring, I climbed the other! That was the only way we were going to be free from everybody. Ren-Ren got his jersey ripped, Don got a scratch on his cheek. It was wild, one of the greatest feelings.

One thing good was Jason was there, Mark Telan, Dindo Pumaren, all the guys who missed out. They could always have said I hope these guys wouldn’t win it para may kasama kaming bridesmaid, but they were cheering us on. It was just too wild you couldn’t even tell if there was a dugout, it was all flooded. That was a great feeling. The only downer was that everything was so wild that my Mythical Five trophy broke – someone stepped on it and I had to try to put it back together!

To be Continued

Part Two:  New Man in Charge

True enough, after that I joined the PBL (Philippine Basketball League). Back then, the rule was you had to play two years in the UAAP before getting in. I joined the Welcoat team, a powerhouse team at the time coached by Junel Baculi. I was one of their prized recruits, along with Don and Ren-Ren. I wonder sometimes why our players today don’t make it to the PBL even when they’re already in their third, fourth, or fifth years. Whatever the reason, it was a blessing because it made me a stronger player. They made me the main point guard and what Ron Jacobs told me really boosted my confidence. I became part of the Mythical Five that year, as well as Finals MVP.

Then things in the team changed dramatically just before the 1998 season, when Franz Pumaren took over. Honestly, it was hard at the time, and I was part of that group that really questioned the change. But don’t get me wrong, it was never about his credentials or abilities, it was just about the timing. The team was intact but had to start over and we were scared because we wanted to win the championship. They (team officials) called this breakfast at Jong Uichico’s house for whatever reason, and that’s when he announced he was leaving. For us it was quite wild. When he told us, we were very disappointed, again not because Franz was coming in but because of the timing. I mean, you just can’t see 48 days forward; we were just saying that if they wanted to change him, they should have done so right after the season.

It was hard in the beginning. Franz put in a totally different system. Total difference – with Ron Jacobs, the philosophy was that basketball is such a short game, so you get the ball in the hands of the best players all the time. If you watch our tapes, you’ll notice it was just Ren-Ren and Mark, Ren-Ren and Mark. No wonder I was leader in assists that year.

When the Pumaren group came in, there were plays (with Ron Jacobs, it was just motion, pass-screen na lang). With the Pumaren group we had about one hundred plays to memorise – there were plays for the point guard, plays for the shooting guard – and it was controlled and made us all offensively useful. If I wanted to shoot, I knew what play to call so that I’d be free.

But what impressed me and the entire league was of course the pressing. Watch the games before 1997 and you will not see any team pressing. If I was averaging two steals a game and leading the league, during that first year of Franz, I averaged five steals a game, 4.8 steals, because of the defence that he and his group instilled in us. And really, if you look at it, La Salle was always a good offensive team. Defensively though, it was touch and go. Some top players – you don’t have to mention them – just didn’t play defence. But when they came in, even Allen Patrimonio, all 280 lbs of him was playing defence! Sa offence, kanya-kanya bili, but one thing that was clearly different was the defence.

Plus, we had three to four presses to really confuse the opponent. I was talking to one of the other UAAP coaches then, he said, “you know your press is a 1-2-1-1, etc.” I said, “no, it’s just man to man, we pick up and every time you turn your back we’re there.” The whole time they were trying all these strategies but they just didn’t know how to play us. People didn’t know what our press was. Once you turned your back, we were there doubling, but really, there was no formation with two guys there or what. People thought it was a full court press but it was just aggressive man-to-man defence: forcing our opponents to turn their back then double-teaming.

To be Continued

by Absolut Verde

Editor’s Note: While the entire basketball world remembers “The Shot over Ehlo” 20 years ago, we La Sallians will never forget “The Shot over Gelig”. It happened exactly 10 years ago from this day. Let us reminisce that memorable game wherein our Green Archers won their 2nd back-to-back championship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAAlt3LIBGk

It was 9 October 1999. Inside the Cuneta Astrodome, La Salle was playing Santo Tomas for the last UAAP basketball championship of the 20th century.

With 26 seconds to go and his team down by two, La Salle’s Ritualo shot from the side and missed. His teammate Allado, the league’s Most Valuable Player, followed up in one motion, missing as well. He fouled Lao, who went to the other side to shoot his free throws. The first was short. The next one bounced, circled the rim twice and rolled softly in. UST held a three point lead and were 18 seconds away from another date at the altar.

With no timeouts left, Aldeguer moved up court and found Ritualo who scampered to the corner, stalked by two tigers. Ritualo spun, faked, rose to shoot — then passed off to Allado who knew he had no chance. Allado sent it back to Aldeguer waiting behind the three point line. Aldeguer released, the weight of his shot calibrated by the offending contact of Gelig’s hand.

The ball hung in the air as the angels of Anguish and Mercy fought over the laws of physics. Then bedlam. Joaqui Trillo, after a moment of disbelief, shrieked again and again into his microphone in the drunken ecstasy of a man who mixed his metaphors but never his loyalties. Beside him, Jimmy Javier spilled his glass of Schadenfreude.

In that instant, a thousand virgins bit their lips then begged to be bound and savaged. All over the world, mothers changed their minds and christened their newborn sons Fernando, but could not explain why.

Entombed in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the bones of Leo XIII, the Bishop of Rome who canonised Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and conferred upon Santo Tomas the title “Pontifical University”, stirred from their rest.

In Montevideo, the 59 year old writer Galeano sat by his window remembering the death of El Che 32 years before, and wondered whether everything that went astray on earth ended up on the moon.

Aldeguer fouled out in the extra period but his team did enough to win the game. Some time before the revelers arrived to celebrate at the College Canteen, an old groundskeeper passed by an empty classroom in St. La Salle Hall. No one believed him when he reported hearing an unseen harmonica play the slow notes of a song everyone there knew — a song he first heard at that very spot in 1961.

We did not witness the hex-breaking shot of our generation’s greatest homegrown player, playing in his farewell game. Carlos Felipe C. Flores (BS-AEC ’94) knocked our eyeglasses into the next row just as Allado made the pass. But we are certain this is what happened.