The buzzer had sounded and Camille Clarin buried her face in her hands, briefly, instinctively, before resting her hands on her waist. She could – briefly, instinctively – breathe now.
Her NU Lady Bulldogs had just escaped a tragedy in Game 2 of the UAAP Season 86 Finals. Barely defeating the UST Golden Tigresses, they survived bloodied and bruised – only metaphorically, of course, which in Lady Bulldog terms might actually mean worse.
CC and the Lady Bulldogs headed into last year’s finals on an untouchable seven-year championship run. Yet they found themselves on the equal brink of victory and defeat, the series tied 1-1. They were no longer invincible. Not immortal. UST knew this. Even worse, CC knew this.
The first crack that opened in the immortality appeared much earlier, when NU’s winning streak (the longest winning streak ever in Philippine college basketball) ended at 108. It was just three short of their target: UConn’s 111 straight wins.
With only 11.5 seconds left in Game 2, CC had a chance to seal it with two free throws to give NU a four-point cushion. She missed both. UST raced to the opposite end, history at stake, destiny teasing. Kent Pastrana, NU’s tormentor, demanded the ball. She went for the kill: a stepback 3 over Stef Berberabe to beat the buzzer. Short. Crisis averted. NU’s seven-year championship streak intact. Game 3 unlocked.
Turned out, it was just pain delayed, nothing but a last gasp for air.
The suffocating nightmare that CC had escaped in Game 2 was inevitable in Game 3. It came, again, in the form of a Kent Pastrana masterclass. Kent had the ball with 30 seconds left, her team down by two. Kent demanded the moment. CC was in front of her, but not for very long. Three crossovers and a spin – that’s all it took to shake off the defense. The package was delivered. The message was sent. The game was tied at this point, but CC would never get to take a shot again, would not get to score a single field goal, would not get a chance to fix her 0-of-11 on the stat sheet. After a UST fastbreak layup here and a missed last-second NU heave there, that was it. Seven years of NU dominance ended in a snap. It happened on CC’s watch.
The last NU possession in that Game 3 was drawn up not for CC, but for Tin Cayabyab. CC was as far away from the play as possible. When Cayabyab’s attempt fell way short, CC fell to a crouching position, both hands on the floor, head bowed down.
“It was just so heavy. Being the captain during that, it felt like I let them down,” she said.
Losing isn’t something CC signed up for in NU. She wore the Lady Bulldog jersey carrying an untarnished record five years in the making. She was a champ in 2019 as a rookie. She was a champ again in 2022 as a semi-vet (thanks to the Gilas miles she put on her body). She was there to keep the NU ship steady to get 100 straight wins. She continued what Gemma, Ria, Afril, Andrea, Mikka, Monique, and Jack started. Up until Season 86.
“That season was full of expectations – you expect you were going to win. It was a reality check that it doesn’t come to you if you don’t work for it. A lot of us were so complacent. Nobody really put in the extra work, you take some games for granted. It was the reality check that we all needed,” CC said.
“[It felt like] the air was sucked out of you.”
FOR EACH OTHER
September 21, 2024. It’s a date CC had marked on her calendar. Scars still fresh from Game 3 of 2023. No new highlights to override the last time. No word in the English language could drown the thought of losing in the finals. The pain transcended conversation. They have to make new talk, new memories.
CC wanted to get that out of the way quick, starting off with two 3s and a layup. If UST was the aggressor – the tormentor – the last time these two teams met, this time it was different. NU jumped to a 10-point lead early, then 15, then 24. UST went on an inevitable scoring run, but by then, NU had built a big enough lead and UST ran out of time. CC finished the game with 14 points – 12 more than the last time. There were nerves, CC admitted. How could there not be? She just had to push through it.
“I just knew that I did what I needed to do in the preseason to be ready for that moment,” CC said.
The prep came in two parts: the physical and the mental.
She worked on her downhill drives and how to stop downhill drives. She focused on her alter ego CC Sniper, her conditioning, on making sure her body is strong enough to withstand more Kent-coded battles. Then, she did the work on Camille – the leader, the team captain, the big sister to her younger teammates.
Before Season 87 started, the Lady Bulldogs held a Players’ Only meeting. No talk on Xs and Os, nothing about strategies and formations. They talked about values. They shared openly what they want to bring to the team this season.
CC had these three on her list: gratitude, reliability, and joy.
“I wanted to make sure that I enjoyed every game and every practice, every chance I got to spend with the girls knowing that it is my last, but at the same time I wanted to be reliable,” she said.
To do that, CC made a minor tweak in her game. She didn’t change her shot mechanics, no, that’s fine. What she did was find the strength to open up to her teammates on a personal level. By doing so, she learned to rely on them, both on court and off.
Aloha Betanio, now in her third year in NU, is a player that CC took under her wing this season. Playmaking falls on the lap of Aloha, and with that comes both the responsibility and the pressure. CC put her full trust on her. Aloha put her full trust on CC. In one of their conversations that may or may not have involved liquor, Aloha spilled that she wants to win it all for her seniors in NU – a testament to CC’s influence.
“Ate CC is everywhere kahit sa labas ng court, hindi niya pa rin kami nakakalimutan. Nagbibigay pa rin siya ng time sa amin makapag-bonding lang,” she said. “She made me a better player and also a better person.”
For the many reasons NU lost last year’s finals, one stuck out horribly: they were disconnected. CC carried the team in Games 1 and 2, scoring 18 points in both games. She felt like her teammates didn’t show up. In Game 3, her teammates needed her, but she didn’t show up. To beat a team as determined and as tough as UST was and still is, CC and her teammates had to constantly be on the same page at the same time. Frankly, to beat a team like UST, they had to genuinely like each other first.
“Building that foundation of we’re always here for each other, we’re more than just teammates…having that relationship with them off the court, contributes to the success on the court,” said CC.
For Each Other. 4EO. CC has it scribbled on her Sabrina 2s. Before every game, the Lady Bulldogs scream it out in unison. It’s an upgrade from their battlecry in Season 86: “Together.” It’s their north star for Season 87, a reminder of not only who they’re doing it for, but why.
It’s for the times Aloha hit 3-of-3 from 3 when CC was 0-of-5. It’s for when Karl Ann Pingol and Angel Surada absorbed bruises in the paint. It’s for when they let Tin Cayabyab and Princess Fabruada cook. It’s for the times superstar rookie Cielo Pagdulagan got a bucket after a broken play.
Watch NU highlights and it’s easy to catch Cielo on the screen. She’s the one always running the break, catching the extra pass, always in a position to get a bucket – and one – with that hooper’s hooper groove, never out of step, always in tune to the rhythm of the game. If you caught yourself running out of breath just reading that sentence, imagine guarding the actual person it describes.
Cielo is not only a perfect fit to NU’s offense, she is also all-in on the culture.
“We’re not just doing this together, we’re doing this for each other,” she said.
Cielo has that cold-blooded gene passed on by CC, her vet, her “best captain Ate,” as she calls her.
“Palagi niyang sinasabi sa ‘kin na kaya ko. Hindi dapat ako kabahan dahil nandiyan sila para sa amin. Hindi niya hinahayaan na bumaba ‘yung kompiyansa namin,” Cielo said.
On CC’s bedroom door, there’s a quote she sees each and every time she steps out: “We rise by lifting others.”
“We’re nothing if we don’t rely on each other,” CC said. “It’s not just a one-man show. It’s 16 girls-deep, all fighting for the same goal.”
The funny thing about losing is that it teaches you so many things about your team, yourself, your character – stuff that winning just can’t.
“When you’re faced with a challenge, you can either rise or fall,” CC said.
For UST, winning at the end of Season 86 must’ve felt like home, a place where they belonged, a safe space they owned. For CC, it felt like they were launched into outer space, into a vacuum, without oxygen. They have no plans of visiting that alien territory again. Ever.
BACK IN THE FINALS
CC and NU did their part. All of the teams that challenged them in the elimination round of Season 87, UST included, got served a basketball rampage. Not one team came close, not one team threatened. Fourteen games, all wins. Straight to the finals they went.
UST, as defending champs, had a much harder route, having to go through a menacing, unpredictable, and upset-hungry Adamson team. In the deciding game, Adamson tempted fate and played a dangerous game of “What If?” They were up four points in the third, blinked, then found themselves down nine after a Tacky Tacatac 3. It was always set for NU and UST.
“As much as we love Adamson, we wanted UST to win. We want to go through them to get that championship,” CC said. The irresistible appeal of getting payback – one more funny thing about losing.
In Game 1, CC got what she wished for. The horrors of Season 86 came back to haunt them, disrupting the flow that’s kept them steady for the entire Season 87. Possession after possession, UST blitzed and hounded, forcing error after error
A 14-point hole was what NU faced in the third quarter, shades of 2023, when UST looked every bit a team that knew how to end dynasties. NU would fight back this time, shades of being together, but looking for each other. A Pingol short jumper, an Aloha splash. A Tin Cayabyab 3, a Cielo breakaway.
UST still wouldn’t just cave in. Kent wouldn’t be out-main charactered. When NU cut the lead to just five, she fired back with a four-point play. She fell on her back and lingered on the floor for a bit longer, basking in the moment. That’s what it came down to – a battle of moments. Each moment topped by the next, a Brigette Santos clutch basket erased by a Cielo layup two seconds later.
The last moment of Game 1 was a familiar moment. Sixteen seconds left, NU 72-UST 71. Kent Jane vs CC. Everyone else fades into the background.
“It was, like, destiny. It was us, the last two people in the possession again,” CC said. “To be in it and to have a chance again, I knew we were going to do whatever it took to stop her.”
CC picked Kent up as soon as she got the ball, deploying a one-woman full court press.
“I could’ve just waited for her at halfcourt, but I wanted it full court so I could show her that I’m ready this time,” she said.
Pastrana being guarded by Clarin. We’d seen this film before. Kent after a quick hesi, drives strong to her left. Pastrana trying to shake off Camille. Kent gets to the paint, CC on her like white on rice. She doesn’t spin this time, instead jumping to pass to Tacatac for a corner 3. No! Pingol hangs on to the ball and there you have it!
CC breathes a sigh of relief. Again. They were rusty, a byproduct of waiting in the finals for two weeks. Yet they were gritty, a result of waiting for this payback for a year.
Entering Game 2, NU had a chance to breathe rarefied air. They were still undefeated up to this point. They were a win away from being champions. Reclaiming the throne with a 16-0 kicker is the perfect hand, but that’s not what’s dealt to them. UST had its own narrative, its own devious plan to keep the trophy within the walls of España.
The Tigresses jumped to a 20-9 lead quick in the first quarter, capped off by a Brigette Santos stepback 3 that can only be best described as wicked. Wicked because she ran full speed then stepped on the brakes, pulled the ball behind her back, then uncorked the 3-pointer over the taller Pingol. Wicked because nobody in all of NU could bring her down.
It wasn’t until UST’s lead ballooned to 15 when NU chipped away. Sometime in the third quarter, when NU was consistently at their most dangerous, the game was tied. But by then, Brigette was unstoppable, unlimited. Every time NU was an arms’ reach from the title, Brigette snatched it away with a gutsy move. She stuck her tongue out occasionally to let them know.
When Brigette wasn’t scoring, it was UST’s own version of a superstar rookie in Karylle Sierba who wreaked havoc. (Side note: we at SLAM are no strangers to Karylle’s game, having witnessed her shatter the scoring record at the annual SLAM Rising Stars Classic. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.)
Karylle poured in 15 points in the fourth quarter alone, enough to give UST one more fighting chance to keep the title. Those unprecedented career games from Brigette (27 points) and Karylle (18 points) probably weren’t in NU’s checklist for Game 2. Their perfect record was no more. The danger of Game 3 was here again.
FINDING JOY
For all the talk around making new stories and starting new beginnings, CC and the Lady Bulldogs still found themselves in the dreaded deciding game for the championship. They wanted to pull away in Season 87, but they kept getting pulled back to Season 86.
They pulled away in Game 3, building a 10-point lead, but they were pulled back to where they were a year ago. The familiar elements: a Tacatac 3, “Go, USTE!” hypnotizing Araneta, and an NU lead dissipating.
NU was only up five with less than a minute left. Cielo tried to end it once and for all with a floater, but it was too strong, bouncing off the rim into the hands of UST’s CJ Maglupay.
“When I saw that Maglupay had the ball, I knew that someone was running because you knew that’s their bread and butter,” CC said.
That someone was Karylle Sierba, the freshman who identifies as a UAAP legend.
In last year’s Game 3, the game-winning basket was a result of the exact same sequence. After an NU miss, a UST player, Nikki Villasin, leaked out for the open layup. NU had learned their lesson. In every practice this season, in every halfcourt drill, the leak out and the safety were in all caps, circled on the white board.
After Cielo’s miss, Karylle made the run for it, and CC was right there with her.
“Whatever fight I had left, I put it all into that one sprint down the court,” CC said.
When Karylle caught the ball, took one dribble, and spun to her left, Maymay Canuto and Aloha were right there to help CC. They sprinted down the court for each other. Karylle fumbled the ball and CC stole it back. She zoomed to the opposite end with a boost of determination and purpose and also with a hint of satisfaction. The steal was a statement, CC said, and that statement was, UST’s “reign is over.”
“We wanted to get the crown back and we wanted to do it together for each other and that’s exactly what happened,” she said. “Everything came together at the right moment.”
In UST’s final possession, Angel Surada – who just days ago had been named to the Mythical Five – secured the ball and didn’t even allow UST to take a last shot before the buzzer. CC bounced up and down – a reverse of her stance last year: static, heavy. The weight had been lifted.
As her teammates piled on to her, joy overflowed. All the extra work, the team dinners the night before the game, the drunken conversations, the arguments, the sacrifices, the ghosts of last year, the questions for the future – all a fast cut montage leading into one championship moment.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that five years later, this is where I would be – so attached to a program, so passionate about this team,” CC said.
“I could have never predicted this team would be my family.”
On that court, after the buzzer, and since the start of the season, CC found joy in just being in the moment and appreciating the story while it was happening.
“Hardship is what makes the story great,” she said.
This story is not just one of redemption, it’s also about writing a new one despite the deja vus – one of reinvention and finding purpose and chosen families, of being at peace. The dynasty timeline pruned; a new one begins.
Until the next challenge presents itself, CC can rest. CC can – finally – breathe now.
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[PHOTOS BY TRISTAN TAMAYO AND INO MUÑOZ]
