Northern Cement

Start

In 1980, businessman Eduardo Cohuangko Jr., founder and owner of Northern Cement Corporation, was appointed then president of the country Ferdinand Marcos director of the country's basketball project. Cohuangko Jr. (although he was not a member of the country's Basketball Federation) began financing, developing the national team in order to represent the country at a high level in international competitions. During that year, the Philippine Basketball Association, the first professional league in the Philippines and Asia, was created. Due to FIBA's ban on participating in international professional competitions, the national team lost many of its best players. Kohuangko Jr. wanted to solve this problem by creating an amateur team. So the Northern Sement club was created.

Coaching the new team came American coaches from US universities - Ron Jacobs and Ben Lindsley . Eventually, Jacobs became the head coach of Northern Cement.

First Team (1981-1982)

Seeking the shortest path to program success, Cohuangko Jr. formed a team of mostly naturalized Americans. The first team was called the Philippines Training Team. Naturalized players included Dennis Still , Jeff Moore , and Filipino-Americans Willy Pearson and Ricardo Brown . Along with them, the team was played by local players at San Beda College - Jibi Yango and Frank Lima . This step was made with the intention to convey to the future basketball players of the country a new model of the game of the national team.

In the same year, the team won the William Jones Cup . Despite this, due to the presence in the team of the majority of naturalized players, the team did not receive support among Filipino fans. Ultimately, the team was disbanded and reassembled from local players.

In 1981, Manila hosted the Southeast Asian Games . In these competitions, Jacobs was tasked by the country's federation to win the basketball tournament. For a good introduction to local basketball, Jacobs chose Pilo Pumeren , the head coach of the University of De La Sale, as the coach of the national team, who gathered the national team for the tournament from the players of the Manila Industrial and Commercial Sports Association. In the end, the Philippines won the basketball tournament of this competition.

In 1982, Jacobs assembled the Philippines junior team for the Asian Championship U18. The team was played by such players as: Alfie Almerio, Elmer Reyes, Tonici Itturi, Frans Pumaren, Teddy Alferero, Ray Cuenco, Leo Ostria, Jon Wichiko, Hector Kalma and Lua Brill. The team reached the finals, where they lost to the Chinese team. Despite this, Jacobs has proven that local "inexperienced" players can compete with foreign players.

Second Team (1983)

In 1983, from some newcomers to De La Sale, who was also under the wing of Cohuangko Jr. and from five naturalized players, a team was assembled to represent the country at the Asian Championship in Hong Kong . Hector Calma, Frans Pumaren, Tonici Itturi, Alfie Almerio, Yuna Tan, Joseph Wichiko, Teddy Alferrero and naturalized players played in the team.

Upon arrival at the tournament, the team found out that ABA recognized only two out of five naturalized players as national team players. This decision brought to the problem the compilation of the basic composition. Due to the illegal use of a naturalized player in group stage matches, the Philippines was awarded a technical defeat in all matches of the tournament. The team finished the tournament in ninth place.

Third Team (1984-1985)

Northern Cement competed in the 1984 and 1985 Philippines Championships and won it in 1985. In 1984, the club won the Asian Champions Cup , and in 1985 the William Jones Cup (as the “San Miguel Bea”). In 1985, the team represented Asia at the Intercontinental Cup in Girona , Spain .

In December 1984, UAAP stars Allan Kaidik, Pidu Jarenciu, Jerry Codinero and Leo Ostria joined the Northern Sement team, who played friendly matches against the FBA during the third conference. The second team of Norzern was trained by the old coach of the club Francisco Kalilan. The first team to go to the Champions Cup in Malaysia consisted of Moore, Engelland, Kalma, Joseph Wichiko, Franz Pumaren, Leoncio Tan, Elmer Reyes, Tonicchi Itturi, Avelino Lima and Yves Dinyadis.

Caedic, Jarenciu and Codinero became regular national team players the following year, while Leo Ostria was drafted by the first FBA number.

In 1985, Northern Sement players played for the national team. The national team, composed of players Northern Sement won the 1985 Southeast Asian Games and the 1986 Asian Championships . Thanks to the victory in the Asian Championship, the national team received a ticket to the 1986 World Basketball Championship and the Goodwill Games . Moore, Engelland, Caedic, Valenciano and Jarenciu played in the then national team. Soon, Yoyo Lastimosa replaced Engelland, due to the latter's departure to San Antonio Spurs . However, in 1986 in the Philippines, the Yellow Revolution took place, revising the basketball development program. Because of this, the national team was forced to leave the world championship.

Disbandment

After the fall of the Marcos government, the basketball development program was revised by the Basketball Association of the Philippines, the then governing body of the country's basketball. Northern Cement was disbanded. Former players continued their careers at other clubs in the Philippines. Some Northern Sementa players participated in the 1990 Summer Asian Games , where the national team won the tournament silver.