Sta. Lucia Realtors win their 1st PBA All-Filipino Championship!

Simply amazing…totally awesome!



Last night, the Sta. Lucia Realtors won Game 7 of the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) Smart Philippine Cup championship series (4-3) over the Purefoods Giants, 100 – 88 in the Araneta Coliseum.




Certainly, the victory was very sweet not only to the ball club but also to the diehard fans like me who yearned and waited patiently for this moment to come. The first time Sta. Lucia tasted victory in a championship series was during the 2001 Governors Cup where they also won over the highly favored team to win the best of seven duel, San Miguel Beer.

Champions again!!!

The Sta. Lucia Realtors (SLR), through thick and thin, has been my favorite PBA team since it bought the franchise rights from the Presto management before the start of the 1993 PBA season. The Presto Tivolis previously known as the Great Taste Coffee Makers, was my favorite local basketball team during the 1980s and early 90’s.

In spite of a string of third place wins and the 2001 victory, a lot of people didn’t really give the Realtors a ghost of a chance to win another crown in the PBA. This year the perception wasn’t much different. That’s when they were proven wrong.

Not only did Sta. Lucia end its seven year championship drought by finishing one of the most incredible championship runs in the history of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), it also achieved several other milestones in franchise and league history. Aside from winning its 1^st All Filipino crown, the ball club registered its longest winning streak – eight games during the elimination series (12 wins in all which gained the team automatic entry to the semifinals). Sta. Lucia placed a 20-12 win loss record throughout the whole tournament; a dramatic turnaround considering the ball club only won a dismal total of 18 games during the whole previous PBA season. The Realtors also posted the lowest number of turnovers (4 turnovers) during a Finals game. I believe this record also ties with the lowest number of turnovers committed by a team in a single game in league history.

Individual records were also set this conference. SLR Coach Boyet Fernandez despite being a talented PBA player for 12 years didn’t become a member of any championship team. Now he is as the team’s head coach. Kelly Williams voted Best Player of the Conference, posted 22 double-double performances during the tournament. The team’s Captain, Dennis Espino deservingly was chosen Most Valuable Player of the Finals series.

Trivia: Fans’ turnout also reached record high during the Finals’ 7^th game at the Araneta Coliseum pegged at 18,167, the biggest since way back in 2005 (18,287 fans turned out during Game 6 of the Philippine Cup between eventual champion Barangay Ginebra vs. Talk ‘N Text).

Most importantly for the Realtors, this championship was a team effort. Practically everyone in the team contributed to this victory.

In the end, SLR management, the players and the fans simply just had to believe victory, by God’s grace, was at hand….we simply had to believe!

Congratulations to the Sta. Lucia Realtors, you are the champions once again!