The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Warriors made UNTV Cup history after winning the championship on Monday (March 9).

The DENR Warriors defeated the previous champion Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Cavaliers in a best-of-three series of the UNTV Cup Season 8.

The rookie team dominated in the first and second game of the series. The AFP Cavaliers did not back down in fighting for the championship but the DENR Warriors were relentless in securing their first championship.

Game 2 ended with the finals score of 99-91.

DENR Warrior coach Norlito Eneran expressed his gratitude to the DENR Warrior players for their sacrifices.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga players, coaching staff talagang ang dami nilang sakripisyo para rito. Hindi biro ang ginawa namin, (I am thankful to the players and coaching staff, they sacrificed a lot for this. What we did was no joke),” he said.

Ed Rivera of the DENR Warriors is the most valuable player for his boldness in the court, scoring a total of 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block. Meanwhile, Ralp Lansang secured 22 points for the DENR, Ryan Abanes and Archie Gamboa scored 20 and 11 ponts, respectively.

For the AFP Cavaliers, Boyet Bautista scored 29 points followed by Romeo Almerol with 17 points and Jerry Lumongsod scored 15 points.

The DENR Warriors will receive P4 million for their chosen charity, the Environmental Heroes Foundation Incorporated. Meanwhile the AFP Cavaliers won P2 million for AFP Educational Benefits System Office.

UNTV Cup Season 8 will give a total of P10 million to various institutions and their chosen charities.—AAC (with reports from Bernard Dadis)

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Warriors are now on the cusp of winning the UNTV Cup Season 8 title after routing the defending champion Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Cavaliers, 90-73, in Game 1 of their best-of-three championship series on Sunday at Paco Arena in Manila.

Warriors dominated the ball game from the first quarter and successfully thwarted attempts by the Cavaliers to block their shots in the third quarter.

In the last quarter, the seasoned Cavaliers still tried to pump in more points with top players Romeo Almerol, Darwin Cordero and Jerry Lumongsod.

But the rookie team Warriors, led by Coach Norlito Eneran, defended tightly and rotated the ball so well that it posted impressive scores from the field to finish the game in double digits.

DENR’s Ralph Lansang and Ryan Abanes were picked as best players of the game after scoring 20 and 14 points, respectively.

Ed Rivera added 15 points to DENR’s score while Desederio Ayson Jr. provided 14 points and Melvin Bangal with 13 points.

Coach Eneran admitted the team had to work doubly hard in order to clinch the title on their first try against the veteran Cavaliers in the event organized by UNTV President and CEO Daniel Razon for public servants.  

“Ang sikreto ko itong nasa likod ko, yung mga coaching staff talagang pinagtrabahuhan nila ito. Nag-isip kami, nag-analyze paano tatalunin ang Champion na AFP. Talagang hirap, sakripisyo,” Eneran said.

The team was also boosted by the support from their colleagues at the DENR, led by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and other top officials.

“I’m very happy because aside from giving service to the people especially sa ating different departments, we are Department of Natural and Resources. We are providing the service to people, now we would like to entertain with this basketball, so maraming salamat kay Mr. Daniel Razon,” Cimatu said in the sidelines of the ballgame.

“Nag-paid off ang sakripisyo namin… Palagay ko, the biggest factor is ‘yung suporta ng departamento. You see all these people, kahit hindi ka panalo enough na eh. ‘Yung exposure na ibinigay ng UNTV, nakikita na we are doing something for Manila Bay yun na po yun, panalo na po yun,” Environment Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo said.

The Warriors aim to complete a series sweep as they go against the Cavaliers for another game on Monday, March 9 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Game 2 will reveal whether the rookie team will take home this season’s title or the Cavaliers will be able to force a do-or-die Game 3. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Bernard Dadis)

After months of weekly battles, the road to the championship series begins for UNTV Cup Season 8.

On Sunday, defending champion AFP Cavaliers will try to set the momentum in the final series against the rookie team DENR Warriors.

“It’s overwhelming to the team, for the management, to the AFP community may pagkakataon ulit kami makatulong ng malaki sa aming beneficiary which is the EBSO,” AFP Cavaliers Head Coach Cornelio “Sonny” Manucat III said.

AFP-EBSO (Armed Forces of the Educational Benefit System Office) is the institution in the Armed Forces of the Philippines which grants scholarship to the dependents of soldiers killed in action or disabled while performing their duties.

Last season the AFP Cavaliers donated their championship prize of P4,000,000 to AFP-EBSO.

This season, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources basketball squad, DENR Warriors aims to become the first rookie team to win the UNTV Cup championship title.

“Yung panlaban namin sa kanila is yung hunger factor na first time kami rito plus the fact na naglalaro kami na para sa beneficiary namin na Environmental Heroes Foundation. Inspirasyon namin yung mga mga namatay na mga hero ng kalikasan,” DENR Warriors Coach Norlito Eneran expressed.

DENR’s charity, the Environmental Heroes Foundation Incorporated (EFHI) is already assured of P2,000,000 donation as a prize of 2^nd placer should they fall short in the series. EFHI helps the family of the slain forest rangers and coastal patrollers.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Magis and NHA Builders will have to face each other for third place. The third best gets to take home P1,000,000 for their charity while the fourth placer gets to donate P500,000 for theirs.

The rest of the teams who weren’t able to make it to the Final 4 is entitled to have P100,000 for their chosen charity.

But those 8 teams will have another chance to donate more cash to their charities as they will participate in a 3-on-3 basketball pocket tournament which will take place during the UNTV Cup Best of 3 Finals Series.

Dubbed as the “liga ng public servants (league of public servants)”, UNTV Cup, aims to promote camaraderie, sportsmanship, and charity among the participating government agencies through basketball.

Wish 107.5 creator, Kuya Daniel Razon, conceptualized UNTV Cup seven years ago, offering participating teams to choose a charity institution or endeavor as the beneficiary of their prize money.

On Sunday (March 1), games will start at 3 PM at Paco Arena, Manila. It will also be aired live on UNTV with broadcast also via UNTV and UNTV Cup social media pages and website.