Men's Basketball
The school has won 5 NCAA basketball titles (1939, 1947, 1956, 1971, and 1974). Its basketball teams won the coveted National Seniors Open Championship, a league participated by top commercial and college teams, twice in 1939 and 1949. After bolting out of the NCAA in 1980, it participated in various tournaments. The Green Archers won the 1983 PABL Championship and 1983 National Open title. The school won the 1988 Philippine Inter-collegiate Championship. This was later reformatted to become the Collegiate Champions League, which then became the current Philippine Collegiate Championship where La Salle won a championship in 2008. La Salle has also won 7 UAAP basketball titles (1989, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2007). It has appeared in the finals 13 times in its 22 years in the league. La Salle is also known for its 4-peat UAAP championship from 1998-2001.
La Salle's basketball program has produced its crop of national players and coaches. Among its revered players include Ramoncito Campos, Eddie Decena, Manolet Araneta, Martin Urra, Kurt Bachmann, Lim Eng Beng, Ricardo Brown, Dindo Pumaren, Jun Limpot, Mark Telan, Don Carlos Allado, Ren-Ren Ritualo, Mike Cortez, Mac Cardona, and JVee Casio. Its great coaches have included Chito Calvo, Leo Prieto, Rogelio LaO, Tito Eduque, Ron Jacobs, Manong Derek Pumaren, Jong Uichico, and Franz Pumaren, who holds the distinction of leading the Green Archers to 5 UAAP basketball titles.
Its most recent UAAP championship was in 2007, with their most recent finals appearance being in 2008, only losing to rival Ateneo. La Salle won the Philippine Collegiate Championship (PCC) in 2008 after defeating Ateneo in the finals. The tournament has the same format as the US NCAA Division 1 Men's basketball tournament. College teams from all over the country participate in this officially sanctioned tournament by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).
La Salle would have won its 8th UAAP basketball title in 1991 after winning a controversial championship game against FEU. A La Salle player with 5 fouls was mistakenly allowed by the officials table to play for less than 10 seconds. La Salle also had the twice to beat advantage in the championship series and would have been the outright champion. However, FEU protested the outcome of the game. The UAAP Board then ordered an entire rematch. La Salle took the stand that it was the responsibility of the officiating table. La Salle did not appear on the replay date. FEU by default was declared winner of that game. The protest was taken up by the FIBA, the highest international governing body in basketball. FIBA and the BAP supported La Salle's stand on the issue.
The school also won the UAAP basketball championship finals in 2004. However, this was lost due to an ineligibility scandal. On October 10, 2005, the University officially revealed to the newspapers in an official De La Salle press release that a then current La Salle player (later identified as second-string back-up center-Mark Benitez) was discovered by the university to be ineligible to continue to study in the university and therefore play for it in the UAAP. The player was discovered by the university to have submitted, as part of La Salle's requirements for admission as a college freshman school year 2003-2004, a falsified Department of Education Philippine Educational Placement Test Certificate of Rating (PEPTCR, a government-issued replacement for a regular high school diploma). A statement by the university outlined a chronology of events, showing that it received a letter from DepEd confirming that Benitez's PEPTCR was fake in August 2005. Benitez, however, continued to play until the UAAP Finals due to administrative delays. In November 2005 after concluding the university's official internal investigation and then submitting its official report to the UAAP Board, the University returned its 2004 UAAP Senior Basketball championship and 2005 runner-up trophies. On October 18, 2005, a meeting was held between the player's camp and the La Salle administrators. Benitez' father denied reports that his son failed the PEPTCR. La Salle also admitted, after DepEd submitted its findings to La Salle, that a second Green Archer, second-string guard Tim Gatchalian, who was no longer even a member of the Green Archers during the 2005-2006 UAAP season but played in the previous 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons, also used spurious documents to enter college, and hence, also rendering himself ineligible to continue to study in the university and play in the UAAP. La Salle later both expelled Benitez and Gatchalian and cancelled all their previously earned college credits after due official investigation. In a letter addressed to the UAAP, De La Salle informed the league of their intent to take a leave from men's basketball. The UAAP rejected this move by La Salle, saying that because basketball is a required event for members' continuing participation, La Salle had to have a leave of absence on all sports and not just Men's Basketball. In a meeting held at Adamson University on April 21, 2006, the UAAP Board unanimously voted to suspend De La Salle from all UAAP events (in the senior, junior and women's divisions) for the succeeding 2006-2007 (69th) season due to negligence. The UAAP board also decided to award the 2004 Seniors Basketball crown to the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.
La Salle also had the longest active streak of reaching the Final Four (semi-finals) of the UAAP basketball tournament ever since the format was introduced, appearing 15 straight times. The streak was broken in 2009, when the Green Archers failed to make the Final Four for the first time ever. In 2010, the Green Archers returned to the Final Four, but lost to the FEU Tamarraws. In 2011, the Green Archers once again failed to make the Final Four. On September 11, 2011, Head coach Dindo Pumaren and the rest of the coaching staff resigned after the team failed to make the Final Four.
Read more about this topic: De La Salle Green Archers, Sports
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