Adriana Leonel Lozada | Hidalgo Campus, with the collaboration of the National News Desk. Photos: Hugo Zuviri and Alejandro Salazar

The Hidalgo Borregos did it again!

The Borregos (The Rams) have won yet another Student Basketball Association (ABE) championship, becoming the only team to have won three “Eight Greats” Mexican college basketball titles, and they did it  coming back from a losing position in the closing minutes, just as they had done in they semi-final.

At the start of the last quarter, they were still 11 points behind the Gallos (The Roosters) of the Monterrey Center of University Studies, who beat them in last year’s final.

But then, Josué Andriassi, in the number 4 jersey, seized leadership of the team and the game, scoring 5 out of 6 three-point attempts for a total of 17 points in the last quarter against the 14 team points scored by his opponents.

Cool and collected, Andriassi began throwing triples and calmed down his team with his game management. With 3 minutes left to play, Hidalgo’s team went into the lead, and the rest was history.

The spectators at the Cancha Azul roared their support. In the offical match commentary, the commentator, referring to the atmosphere in the stands, said: “college basketball has never seen anything like this”.

The final score was 74-65. Hidalgo became the first ABE League team to win at home and also the first to win three championships.

Winning team coach Sergio Molina  praised the fans:

“They’re the best fans in Mexico. They gave us our second wind and helped us go that extra mile. We really feed off each other.”

Oscar López Trujillo, National Athletic and Sports Director at the Tec, also congratulated Hidalgo and the organization of the event.

“This championship victory is the icing on the cake. As an institution, we had already won by hosting the Eight Greats and by seeing everyone’s hard work come to fruition this week.”

For her part,Viviana Sánchez, Director of Student Leadership and Education at Hidalgo, said, “This is the result of a lot of work and effort by everyone involved in the Eight Greats, the people of Hidalgo make it great, and today we have seen proof of that.”

The first three places received their trophies at the award ceremony from:

• Pedro Luis Grasa Soler, Vice-President of Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Southern Region.
• Claudia Gallegos Cesaretti, Director-General of Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Hidalgo campus
• Justo Vera, ABE League Division One coordinator
• Oscar López, National Athletic and Sports Director

CEU Monterrey took second place in the tournament.

Third place went to the Aztecas UDLAP (University of the Americas Puebla) in an exciting game against Tec Guadalajara with a final scoreline of 93-89.

Hidalgo reached the final with a semi-final victory over UDLAP, where the Tec team fought their way back from a 14-point deficit.

The men’s all-star team for this tournament was:

• Point guard: Larry Flores, number 8,  UDLAP
• Shooting guard: Bryan Rivera number 18, CEU Monterrey 
• Small forward: Ángel Peralta, number 17, UDLAP
• Power forward: Marcos Durazo, number 15, Tec Guadalajara
• Center: Emmanuel Trinidad, number 37, Tec Hidalgo

In women’s basketball, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León won the championship. The Borregas (The Ewes) from the Tec’s Monterrey campus came in third.

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