The 1988 UAAP men's basketball tournament was the 51st year of the men's tournament of the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univ ...

(UAAP)'s basketball championship. Hosted by

De La Salle University De La Salle University (), also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private, Catholic coeducational research university run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools with main campus in Taft Avenue, Malate, Man ...

, the

Ateneo Blue Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The Ateneo collegiate ...

defeated the

De La Salle Green Archers The De La Salle Green Archers and Lady Archers are the varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, among other leagues. The "Green Archer" is the traditional university mascot. Whi ...

in the finals defending their first UAAP men's basketball championship: it was the first UAAP finals series for the

Ateneo–La Salle rivalry The school rivalry in sports between Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University began when both educational institutions participated in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines), Philippine National Collegiate At ...

that originated in the

NCAA (Philippines) The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA; ) is an athletic association of ten private colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Philippines. Established in 1924, it is the oldest collegiate athletic association in the country. It i ...

Tournament format

* Double round robin; the two teams with the best records advance Finals: ** The #1 seed will only need to win once to clinch the championship. ** The #2 seed has to win twice to clinch the championship.

Elimination round

Ateneo abandoned its game against the University of the Philippines (UP) with the Fighting Maroons leading 83–69 1:21 left in the game when a melee broke out involving Ateneo's Joseph Canlas and UP's Joseph Marata. The referees ejected Canlas after he tripped Marata, then the two players traded punches that led to a bench-clearing situation. An unidentified spectator fired a gun, who was escorted out of the

Rizal Memorial Coliseum The Rizal Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, Philippines. It can hold up to 6,100 people. History The Rizal Memorial Coliseum within the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex was built on the former si ...

by UP baseball coach and police officer Boy Codiñera. With the system currently in place, Ateneo would've forfeited the game and received no points (a loss under ordinary circumstances merited one point, two points for a win); however, Ateneo coach Fritz Gaston appealed the decision to the UAAP Board which was granted, ruling the game as an ordinary loss for Ateneo and giving them one point.

Finals

Ateneo clinched the twice-to-beat advantage in the elimination round finale which served as a '' de facto'' Game 1 of a best-of-3 series with a win against La Salle. La Salle, led by

Dindo Pumaren Ferdinand "Dindo" Pumaren, is a retired Filipino professional basketball player and former collegiate coach. In his professional playing career, he was nicknamed "The Bullet" due to his great passing and stealing. Early career Pumaren suited ...

, had a ten-point advantage midway through the first half, 21–11. However, Ateneo caught up with them and kept the score close until the final deadlock at 66–all when Ateneo started an 8–2 run. Joseph Canlas scored four of Ateneo's eight points in the run, which ended with a Gilbert Reyes conversion off a steal from Joey Santa Maria. Pumaren closed the gap to four points at 74–70, with two free throws off Joseph Kenneth Nieto, but the Blue Eagles prevented further scoring opportunities for La Salle; Santa Maria fouled Daniel Francisco, who converted his two free-throws to give Ateneo the win, and a successful defense of their championship. Their back-to-back title run was their first successful title defense since the 1975 and 1976 NCAA seasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uaap 51 1988 in Philippine basketball

Tournament format

Elimination round

Finals

See also

References