After 742 Days, UE Finally Has a Win to Bring Home

Paulo Hubalde knew who would understand if he cried.

His wife Kariza had been supporting him through the season. She knew what the job was doing to him, what he carried away from the basketball court.

Now that University of the East has finally won, he thought seeing her might bring out the emotions he was still trying to contain.

“I’m trying to hold it in until now,” he said in an exclusive interview on a day UE lore will never forget.

“Siyempre, you don’t want to let everybody see, but deep inside, you’re crying already.”

The Red Warriors beat Adamson, 53–47, on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. They’re now 1–10. As a team already out of contention for the Final Four, on the standings, this change occupies very little space long term.

But this matters: It took 742 days.

For fans of a passionate program, that felt like eternity.

UE’s previous victory came on October 26, 2024, against National University. Thirty consecutive defeats followed, stretching across three UAAP seasons, through changes on the bench, and departures from the roster.

The streak grew long enough to become the second-worst in league history, behind Adamson’s 35. It became part of the context to every UE game.

“I’m still lost for words for this victory,” Hubalde said. “I’m still processing, actually.”

For a school with UE’s history, there was plenty to process.

Eighteen men’s basketball championships. Seven in succession from 1965 through 1971. The last title in 1985, when Allan Caidic, currently an assistant coach, was still wearing the uniform. Those achievements remain part of what the red and white mean, even to supporters too young to have watched them.

The more recent memories could be harder to revisit. In 2014, UE won its final five elimination games to finish 9–5, then lost a playoff for the last semifinal berth to NU by two points. A decade later, the Warriors went 5–2 in the first round and seemed close again. They finished 6–8. Adamson beat them, 68–55, for the last place in the Final Four.

UE has not reached the Final Four since 2009. It’s the longest streak in college basketball.

The 2024 collapse also supplied the first six losses of the streak that ended Saturday: five to close the eliminations, then the playoff. A winless Season 88 added 14. Ten more came this season. Supporters had seen enough promising stretches to know how quickly they could disappear.

They had also watched players develop, then leave. Gani Stevens went to UP. Kyle Paranada went to UST. Rey Remogat, a Mythical Five selection who had led the league in assists, transferred to UP, too. Rainer Maga followed after emerging in UE’s 2024 rotation. Precious Momowei and Nico Mulingtapang departed after the winless 2025 campaign.

By September, Chris Gavina had left after the first two games of Season 89. Hubalde took over. On the day of his first assignment with the men, he had already coached UE’s Under-16 team against Ateneo. He went from a junior-team victory to a senior-team defeat against FEU.

He had returned to a school he once helped represent as a guard, part of a generation that included James Yap, Paul Artadi, Ronald Tubid, and KG Canaleta. Now he was responsible for players trying to establish names of their own while answering for a losing streak some of them had inherited.

Asked what he wanted to restore, Hubalde spoke about care.

“We take care of the players. May malasakit tayo sa player at sa school,” he said. “’Yun lang naman talaga ang gusto ko, kasi ’yun ’yung recipe namin before when we were winning: ’yung malasakit sa team, malasakit sa player.”

He extended the thought to their families. Supporting a son meant something to the people who had sent him to UE, too.

Toper Lagat had come through the Junior Warriors and made his collegiate debut during the winless season. His former high-school teammate Lance Sabroso spent that season with Team B, working on becoming a point guard.

JM Edoukou had also played for UE in high school. The Ivorian was a cousin of Ange Kouame, whose name carried the weight of championships at Ateneo. Edoukou arrived in the collegiate game with his own work to do.

Other players had come to Recto looking for an opportunity. Gene Carillo, a member of Adamson’s high-school championship team, moved from College of Saint Benilde seeking more playing time. Cole Cruz-Dumont came from Canada, following his brothers into the program.

They had backgrounds and ambitions that a zero in the win column could obscure.

UE forced La Salle into overtime on October 21 before losing, 97–88. The result pushed the streak to 28, moving the Warriors past UP’s 27-game run. Even an encouraging performance supplied another historical low.

By the time FEU handed them their 30th straight defeat, the Final Four was beyond reach. There were still four games to play.

Before Adamson, Hubalde told his players he believed in good karma and destiny.

“We are not here by accident,” he declared. “With this, we have an opportunity to make history.”

But his message came with a demand.

“You have to take it. Everything is earned in life. If you don’t take it, no one will give it to you.”

He also brought a speaker.

It was something he used with his juniors team. The seniors played their music on it before the game. Asked afterward whether he had sensed anything different that morning, Hubalde did not claim to have foreseen the breakthrough.

“Maybe it’s part of it,” he said of the music.

UE led 21–11 after the first quarter. Adamson recovered, and the Warriors entered the fourth ahead by only two.

Then the game became difficult for everyone. UE made two of its 18 fourth-quarter field-goal attempts. Adamson made one of 17. The Falcons’ only points in the period came on a Matt Erolon three that brought them within 50–47.

The lead was small enough for another familiar ending.

With 18.5 seconds remaining, Edoukou put back a Drew Jimenez miss to make it 52–47. On the next possession, he collected the rebound after Mat Edding missed. Adamson still stole an inbound pass and found another three-point opportunity, but Lance Mangaron missed.

Tañedo added the final free throw. You could feel the anxiety in the air. Players, coaches, and fans were trying to hold back tears.

This time, they had enough. No more losses. No more jokes. No more misery.

Victory was within reach, and there would be no way they let it out of their grasp.

There will still be decisions after the season. Asked whether Hubalde hopes to continue, he left the choice with management and the UE community.

“If the management and UE community still want me to coach this team, then I will do it 1,000%.”

He described the work as giving back. The school had been part of his life long before it needed him to help end a 30-game losing streak.

“I know it’s just one win,” he said, “but I’ll take it. I’ll take it.”

He understands the number. Everyone who had followed UE through these seasons understands it, too. A single victory will not recover the missed Final Fours or bring back a departed player. There will still be practices, recruiting decisions, and games in which the Warriors would have to prove themselves again.

But their next game will no longer begin with the question of, “is this the day the losing finally stops?”

Hubalde is still working through what happened, still holding in what he’s feeling, still thinking about seeing the person who knows the season from his side of it.

“She knows what I’m going through this season,” he said of his wife.

This time, he can tell her: “we won.”