In a season of college basketball dominance, Ateneo De Manila added yet another jewel to its already heavy crown – the 2009 Philippine Collegiate Champions League championship. Ateneo needed the full three games to get it done but they eventually subdued tough Far Eastern University 74 – 70 in Game 3 to put away their third straight varsity title for the year.

Coming off a rousing back-to-back championship in the Universities Athletics Association of the Philippines, their second such feat in the UAAP, and the University Games championship, their PCCL run seemed to test their endurance more than their talent and skill. Ateneo needed three games to win their second straight UAAP title against a surprisingly resilient University of the East. They had some anxious moments in Iloilo during their one-game Finals versus reigning UCLAA champion St Francis of Assisi College.

In this year’s PCCL, the Blue Eagles had to go through freshly-minted ISAA champion Lyceum University of Manila, their UAAP Final 4 rivals University of Santo Tomas, and NCAA runner-up San Beda College. Lyceum proved to be tougher than expected as Joseph Abaya very nearly shot his Pirates to the upset in the Sweet 16. Ateneo hung on behind the steadiness of Jai Reyes and Ryan Buenafe. Santo Tomas looked ready to pull off what Lyceum could not. Backup center Justin Chua and American Kirk Long took up the cudgels for the Blue Eagles in this game. Long seems to have it in for the Growling Tigers as he also had a career game against them in the Season 72 UAAP wars as well. Against San Beda, their former long-time rival in the NCAA, the Blue Eagles relied on emerging star Oping Sumalinog to subdue the Red Lions.

Far Easter also had its fair share of anxious moments in the PCCL this year as well. They needed a buzzer-beater to edge university belt neighbor University of the East in the Elite 8. They then went through a wringer of an overtime period to outlast reigning NCAA champion San Sebastian in the Final 4. In both games it was former RP Youth Team pointguard Ryan Roose Garcia who shone through for the Tamaraws. Garcia [practically made FEU fans forget about Mark Barroca, the man whose role he now plays for FEU. Barroca was reportedly removed by management from the team towards the end of the eliminations of Season 72 in the UAAP for unspecified reasons. Garcia’s play in the PCCL however made folks forget about Barroca’s absence.

In the Finals the Tamaraws looked good and ready to bring the PCCL title back to Morayta. They last held the national championship in 2005 when current PBA stars Arwind Santos and Jonas Villanueva were still with FEU. Ateneo was the only team they were unable to beat in their rather disappointing UAAP campaign this year, and they were looking to exact some payback. Ateneo however was not about to just let FEU take the title since the Blue Eagles were themselves national champions just two years ago when Chris Tiu was still around. It is also the sesquicentennial year of the Ateneo, and while the back-to-back UAAP titles were the most important prize, the PCCL title would certainly make for the best finishing touch to an incredible 2009 basketball campaign.

Game 1 saw Ateneo busting out early behind the torrid three-point shooting of hotshot guard Jai Reyes, the unsung hero of their second straight UAAP title. FEY however just hung in there, and eventually Garcia once again played the hero, knocking down a three-pointer in the last three minutes to give FEU a 70-67 lead. FEU would go on to win Game 1 75-70.

Typical of the Blue Eagles though, Game 2 was an altogether different proposition. Sophomore forward Nico Salva had a career game with 26 points and eight boards and scored practically at will against every kind of defense thrown by the Tamaraws. Learning their lesson well from the Game 1 collapse, Ateneo floored it early and never let the gas go. Salva would preside over a thorough 90-63 smack down of FEU in Game 2. It was so dominating a performance by Ateneo that Norman Black was able to empty his entire bench with still over three minutes to go. Garcia, the Game 1 hero, scored all of two points in Game 2.

Before Game 2 Black was asked point blank what happened in Game 1 since they were in control for at least the 36 of the 40 game minutes. “We just didn’t play our defense towards the end, and we were unable to execute. We figured out what we did wrong and we’ve made the adjustments especially on our pick-and-roll defense,” he explained further.

In the winner-take-all Game 3, it would be Reyes’s turn to finally put this series away. He would get plenty of help from Eric Salamat, a man who was on again-off again throughout this tournament. With Reyes running the Ateneo game with headiness and patience, Salamat presided over the defensive end and was a one-man transition game for the Blue Eagles. FEU was still going to fight it out to the end though, and Garcia and Smart Gilas swingman JR Cawaling looked like they were going to reprise Game 1 for FEU. A Cawaling jumper put FEU ahead 70-67 in the last minute and a half. Reyes would have none of it though, as he then snapped a trey of his own to tie the game at 70-all. In the last 45 seconds, Reyes found Sumalinog on a strong cut as the Cebu sensation gave Ateneo the lead 72-70. Buenafe sealed the final count and the title with two freethrows.

Reyes was ecstatic in the post-game interview. “This was icing (on the cake),” Reyes said after the game. “Thank you to my family and to Ateneo, the only school I’ve known since I was a kid,” he added.

In the battle for third place, San Beda had some measure of payback by beating their NCAA Finals tormentor San Sebastian behind Jake Pascual and JR Tecson.