By: Miguel Caramoan
Round 2 between San Beda University and the College of Saint Benilde got a little heated.
As both teams headed into the halftime break, Red Lions assistant coach Andre Santos and Blazers head coach Charles Tiu got into a brief shouting exchange before entering their respective dugouts.
However, Santos later clarified that it was all just a major misunderstanding.
According to the young coach, he thought that one of Benilde’s staff members was trying to talk to Janti Miller, when in fact, they were addressing the referees.
“It’s not a big deal,” said Santos. “I just told them not to talk to Miller anymore, but they misunderstood what I meant. It’s all good — I even said sorry after. It was just a misunderstanding.”
Tiu echoed the sentiment, saying he was caught off guard by the brief commotion between Santos and his assistant coach Paolo Layug.
“I honestly didn’t know what happened,” said Tiu. “I was trying to talk to the refs, then I suddenly heard shouting. It’s just the competitive nature of both coaching staffs and our shared desire to win.
“I thought Andre was arguing with one of my assistants, but they were just trying to clear things up. They thought we were talking to Miller, but that wasn’t the case.”
(C) NCAA/GMA
Despite the halftime tension, it didn’t take away from the quality of the game that both the Blazers and the Red Lions put on display.
Even without reigning MVP Allen Liwag, the Blazers — led by Tony Ynot, Shawn Umali, and Jake Gaspay — battled back from an 18-point deficit. They cut the lead down to just a single point with less than a minute left.
But clutch shots from Bryan Sajonia saved San Beda from a collapse, as the Red Lions escaped with an 80–76 victory to seize the top spot in Group B of the NCAA Season 101 Seniors Basketball Tournament.
Despite the fiery nature of the contest, it was all smiles afterwards between Tiu, Santos, Layug, and San Beda head coach Yuri Escueta.
After all, they all share the same roots — they bleed blue, Ateneo blue.
“We’re all good,” said Tiu. “We’re friends, and we were already joking around after the game. It’s fine.”
“What I love about me, Coach Charles, Coach Yuri, and Coach Pao all coming from Ateneo is the brand of basketball we play,” added Santos.
“It’s a chess match, smart basketball. That’s what makes it fun and competitive. Sometimes the emotions come out, but it’s all love in the end.”
Tiu also expressed pride in how far they’ve come — each now leading their own teams in the NCAA.
Tiu and Escueta were once teammates in Ateneo’s ‘Glory Be’ team, while Layug used to work as a foreign exchange analyst. On the other hand, Santos began his journey as a student-manager for the Blue Eagles.
Also present at the game was Coach Norman Black, former Ateneo head coach and now a consultant for San Beda.
“Yuri was lucky to have worked under Coach Tab (Baldwin), which is why you can see the similarities in his system,” Tiu said. “Yuri’s been a good friend of mine and one of my brother’s closest friends for the longest time. We all came from the Norman Black school of basketball, so it’s nice to go up against Coach Norman again.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the win, but I can’t complain about how we played,” he added.
“It’s always fun competing against them. They just did a much better job today.”
