'Kaya pa': Graduating NU Bulldog Jayjay Alejandro not going quietly into the night

GRIT AND GRIND. Alejandro just wants to make it to final 4 and see their team captain Matt Salem play again. File photo by Josh Albelda/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – 3 years ago, the 9-5 National University (NU) Bulldogs entered the UAAP Season 77 playoffs via a two-point tiebreaker with fellow 9-5 team University of the East (UE) Red Warriors. From that close shave, they proceeded to upset championship contender Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Blue Eagles in two close wins, 78-74 and 65-63, to enter the finals. Now suddenly riding high with momentum, the tenacious Bulldogs won 2 more against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws to end a 60-year title drought for the Sampaloc-based school.

As fate would have it, it was the present-day Tamaraws once again pushing the Bulldogs to the brink of elimination in Season 80. After opening the 4th quarter with a 79-64, it appeared as though FEU would exact revenge on NU for their finals collapse 3 years back.

However, the graduating J-jay Alejandro was not fazed. With nothing happening for the Bulldogs on offense, he took matters into his own hands. The captain steered the ship, assisted on a series of and-ones for his teammates and sank buckets of his own. All of a sudden, the rabid Bulldogs were within two points of the stunned Tamaraws after a 15-2 run. After yet another FEU miss, Alejandro pulled up for the go-ahead three.

Swish.

The improbable run has been completed as Alejandro let his emotions loose – screaming all the way to the arms of his awestruck teammates as FEU called for time. Since then, the Bulldogs never looked back as they swiped away an 87-84 victory from the 4th-seeded Tamaraws. With the win sending them to a 5-8 record, 6th-seeded NU stayed alive in the Final 4 hunt as FEU slid down to 6-7. Despite the Tamaraws setting the UAAP record for team threes with 18 makes in 42 tries (43%), all their efforts went down the drain as they gave up a 23-5 4th quarter run.

After the game, Coach Jamike Jarin went all out with his praises for his players, particularly for Alejandro.

"FEU made a run in the start and in the middle of the third, but we never bowed down," said the outspoken coach. "That was the experience, the maturity I always wanted, and I saw it now. I’m just blessed to be around this young men."

"When the 4th quarter started, J-jay Alejandro demanded for the ball," he added. "We gave him the ball, he made the right decisions, and we executed very well. I just have to give hats off to Mr. J-jay Alejandro."

When asked whether he was playing to save his final chance for the final 4, Alejandro said, "Going into the game, ‘yun talaga yung iniisip ko eh. If we lose, I don’t have a chance to play in the Final 4. Gusto namin na makita pa si Matt Salem na maglaro sa Final 4." ("Going into the game, that’s really what I was thinking about. If we lose, I don’t have a chance to play in the Final 4. We just want to see Matt Salem play in the Final 4.")

Recently, NU co-captain Salem has been battling a bout of dengue, and was unable to suit up for the Bulldogs during this crucial homestretch. However for this game, he still tried to play for around a minute before being taken out for good. According to Coach Jarin, his presence was enough to motivate the rest of the team en route to the comeback win. Alejandro attested to this, saying, "We were playing with a lot of inspiration from our captain."

"Napagdaanan ko na yung ganito eh,” added Alejandro. “Back in Season 77, parang butas ng karayom yung [dinaanan] namin, so siguro yung mindset ko lang coming to this game is 'Kaya pa.' ("I’ve been through this. Back in Season 77, we passed through like a needle hole, so I guess my mindset coming into this game is 'We can still do this.'")

Although their fate is not totally in their hands, Alejandro will surely go down guns blazing before he rides off into the sunset. He’s been through worse, after all. – Rappler.com

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Blue Eagles fend off Maroons, close in on UAAP elims sweep

Ateneo moved a win away from an elimination round sweep after holding off University of the Philippines, 96-82, in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The No. 1 Blue Eagles, who will shoot for a 14-0 record against defending champion De La Salle on Sunday, went on a 17-3 run in the final four minutes and 11 seconds to break away from a 79-deadlock.

“We showed a lot of character in the end. It was a tough game, we were challenged from the start and I’m happy that the players stepped up to the challenge,” said Ateneo coach Sandy Arespacochaga.

Matt Nieto scored a team-high 19 points, including seven inside the last three minutes, while Isaac Go and Gian Mamuyac added 13 points each for Ateneo, which out-rebounded UP, 49-34.

Thirdy Ravena struggled from the field but did a little bit of everything to still finish with 10 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block.

UP mounted an 11-0 blast to tie the game at 79 with all the momentum on its side but a controversial call near the four-minute mark turned the tide.

 Down but not out: Maroons still fighting for Final Four spot 

The referees missed what should’ve been an 8-second violation on Ateneo guard Jolo Mendoza, who fell just before crossing center court. Instead, a foul was called on UP playmaker Jun Manzo.

Juan Gomez de Liaño topscored with 21 points while Paul Desiderio had 16 but went 6-of-18 from the field.

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UCF’s Tacko Fall is 7-foot-6, and his game is still growing

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tacko Fall can never hide.

The tallest man in college basketball was walking from the University of Central Florida student union to his dormitory one recent morning, waiting for the light to change at an intersection when a driver — perhaps under the illusion that there’s more than one 7-foot-6 kid enrolled there — hit the brakes and yelled a question out the window.

“Yo,” the man yelled. “You Tacko?”

Yo,” the man yelled. “You Tacko?

Fall waved, shrugged and smiled as the driver shot him a thumbs-up and drove away.

“I think he knew who I was,” Fall said.

This is an everyday thing for Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall, a 21-year-old from Senegal who grew up playing soccer, couldn’t stand basketball when he first started playing five years ago and now has hopes of an NBA future. He bows his head to get through doorways, prefers sandals to shoes because they’re easier on his size 22 feet, and has found that even first-class airplane seats don’t give him enough leg room.

If everyone at UCF — and in college basketball — doesn’t know who he is yet, they might soon.

“He’s learning things now that another player might have learned five years ago, by no fault of his own,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He just picked up the game later than everybody else. He’s super-intelligent, speaks multiple languages, he’s just off the charts. He just needs more experience. And how do you gain experience? There’s only one way. You’ve got to get out there and do it.”

Fall is a quick study. He’s the reigning defensive player of the year in the American Athletic Conference, a blocker of 164 shots in his first two college seasons and a changer of countless others. He’s made 73 percent of his field-goal attempts in college, since most come around the rim. Defenses last season started pushing him more and more away from the basket, so Fall added a few pounds of muscle this offseason in hopes of pushing back.

He took a look at the NBA this past spring, visiting with five clubs to get their feedback on his game.

The critiques weren’t often kind. But he listened and learned.

“They showed me things,” said Fall, who is listed at 295 pounds. “I was able to see it, not just hear about it, but see it. Skill-wise, I added a lot to my offensive game. Defense is probably going to be the biggest thing for me because of my size and how I can affect the game, but the game has changed a lot. There’s versatile bigs now and I need to keep up.

They need to keep up with him, too.Fall might be an unusual star, but a star nonetheless. Walk with him around campus, and one of two things often happen — either fellow students yell his name and wave, or they try to act cool while sneaking a selfie. Fall doesn’t mind in either case. And yes, he’s heard every joke imaginable about his height and his name.

“He’s very comfortable with who he is,” said Dawkins, who played with 7-7 Manute Bol and 7-6 Shawn Bradley in the NBA and tries to impart wisdom to Fall on what he learned from their experiences.

Fall knows what they went through, but doesn’t want to be considered The Next Bol or The Next Bradley. “I want to be the first me,” he said.

Fall truly is a center of attention.Wichita State is new to the American Athletic Conference this season, so at the league’s media day last month, Shockers coach Gregg Marshall was learning plenty of new names and faces. Fall, who didn’t exactly need a “Hello My Name Is” sticker on his black UCF polo shirt, went up to Marshall and introduced himself anyway.

Marshall was impressed, and hadn’t even seen tape yet. “I saw him in the hallway,” Marshall said. “I’ve never seen a human that big. He’s a great young man.”

Fall’s story is almost as unique as his size. Born in Senegal, his family went through some very difficult times. He often didn’t have enough to eat, to the point where he would have nothing for breakfast and then would try to ration his school lunch and preserve some to serve as dinner. Money was often tight.

When Fall was 16, Ibrahima N’Diaye changed everything. He ran a basketball academy and suggested to Fall

that he try to play in the U.S.

There was one small problem. Fall despised the game, but eventually came around thanks to his basketball-loving grandmother.

“There used to be cartoons on every day at 5 o’clock,” Fall said. “And one day, I think our national basketball team was competing, my grandma put that on instead of the cartoons. We had only one TV, and I got mad.”

He got over it.

He came to the U.S., first going to Houston and then bouncing around a bit before settling in Florida. He enrolled at Liberty Christian Prep — a place where the devout Muslim could have plenty of spirited, respectful, thought-provoking conversations with teachers and other students about religion.

It was also a place where he realized basketball could provide a future.

“The tough times really make you appreciate what you have,” Fall said. “It’s destiny. I met a guy who I had never met before, went home to talked to my mom about playing basketball which I never imagined I would play, wound up coming to the States and ended up in Florida, the best place I could have ended up at. Everything worked out just fine.”

It might only get better.

He isn’t sure if he’ll declare for the NBA draft next spring or just again explore his options. He speaks three languages now and is trying to learn Japanese, largely because of his affinity for anime. Food isn’t hard to find now — pasta and chicken before every game is his routine. And he’s hoping that his mom, whom he hasn’t seen in five years, might be able to get to a UCF game this season.

And one day, he wants to go home with NBA money to do some good. Ask him his dream plan, and he’ll say itinvolves being able to build schools in Senegal.

“Kids look up to us,” Fall said. “You don’t always get opportunities to get out and do something with your life. Being able to help other people, when you can do that you’ve got to take advantage of it. Life is short. You’ve got to leave your mark. You’ve got to do something that matters. I want to do something that matters.

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