NU Bulldogs Beat Mapua to Win 2011 Fr. Martin Summer Cup Championship Title

After beating the Ateneo De Manila University in the semi-finals, they've just beaten the Mapua Cardinals to capture the 2011 Fr. Martin Summer Cup trophy. NU's prized rookie, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. had to come up with two important crucial free throws in the dying seconds of the ball game to give his NU Bulldogs a more comfortable 4 point lead, 87-83, en route to winning the title via overtime at the expense of their fellow dark horse, the Mapua Cardinals. The game happened yesterday at the San Beda College gym. The final score was 87-83.

The game was close all throughout, from first quarter down to the fourth quarter. You can say that the game was a grudge match to say the least. Now let's fast forward to overtime. In the overtime, Josan Nimes of Mapua made an impressive three pointer in the 2:50 mark of the game to give the lead to Mapua, 83-80. And then NU's sophomore, Jul-ashri Ignacio also made a counter 3-pointer to tie the score, 83-83 with less than 2 minutes remaining in overtime.

NU's transferee from Rizal Technological University (RTU), Denice Villamor was fouled by one of the players of Mapua. He went to the free throw line and he was able to sink both of his free throws to give his team the lead, 85-83. Mapua called a timeout to prepare a play. In their possession, Mark Sarangay was able to set himself free but he missed the uncontested lay-up. He failed to tie the ball game.

NU failed to seal the deal in their next possession, leaving the door wide open for Mapua. With less than 1 minute remaining coach Eric Altamirano of NU asked Bobby Parks Jr. to take on Mapua's sweet shooting player, Josan Nimes. Parks was able to steal the ball from Nimes and then he just ran the game and shot clocks down. Mapua is in dire need of a basket. They decided to foul Parks and send him to the free throw line. The son of the former Shell import, Bobby Parks Sr. nailed both of his charities to increase their lead to 4 points, 87-83.

With 2 seconds remaining on the game clock, Mapua had to heave a long shot but it didn't go in. The confetti rained down the court because NU had just won the tournament. Perhaps it was just luck or it was because Yousef Taha of Mapua was not able to play because of a shoulder injury. Nonetheless, we can never change the reality that the NU Bulldogs won the title. I also would like to congratulate Mapua for giving us a nice game.

With his third tournament championship with the Bulldogs, the Jubilant coach Eric Altamirano said:

“The win was a confidence builder for the team especially [since] most of our players for this year are young. I was very proud of the boys, the way they were able to come back and win it after trailing by six points with less than a minute to go in the game. We hope to bring this mindset to the UAAP,”

His main player, Parks Jr. netted 30 big points to carry his team on his shoulder. The 6'6 lefty showed that if they want to win, they can win. The other UAAP teams should not sleep on NU in the upcoming season because they are for real. Call them the dark horse and they will gladly accept it as long as they win some games. I really believe that they can slay some big teams in the UAAP because Parks now have a consistent support mechanism in the form of their big man Denice Villamor, who scored 19 points in this game. They also have their old reliable, Glenn Khobuntin, who scored 12 points for the Bulldogs.

This title will be NU's 3rd one in just one year. Here's what Inboundpass.com said:

The Fr. Martin Summer Cup is the Bulldogs’ third trophy in less than a year. Altamirano’s squad lifted the Fr. Martin Cup Division II Cup last October before claiming the University Games plum less than a month later.

Here are the scores:

NU 87 – Parks 30, Villamor 19, Khobuntin 12, Ignacio 7, Javillonar 6, Labing-isa 3, Magat 3, Alolino 2, Neypes 2, Eman 0, Mbe 0, Singh 0.

Mapúa 83 – Nimes 20, Ranises 19, Ighalo 10, Mangahas 10, Stevens 9, Parala 8, Sarangay 4, Pascual 3, Abad 0, Chien 0.

Quarter scores: 22-17, 40-39, 56-51, 77-77, 87-83