by rick olivares
It’s just the first match of the Filoil Flying V
Hanes Premier Cup for La Salle and the University of the East that ended with a 69-62 win for the former. But after 40
minutes, it is obvious that their respective title campaigns will come down to
what could be taken away from the match.
UE Red
Warriors
Roi Sumang and Moustaph Arafat will be like Mike
Conley and Greg Oden for Ohio State University – an incredible one-two punch to
lead their team. But that one-two punch becomes only huge if the other starters
and bench produce.
Sumang, the reigning pound-for-pound king of college
basketball (Mark Cruz does hive him a run for that title tho Sumang is ahead
ever so slightly) can still light up the scoreboard but UE needs to surround
him with talent. A player like Sumang doesn’t come too often. He’s like Paul
Lee, a human dynamo, and a scoring machine if you will. But Michael Jordan for
all his prodigious scoring efforts needed Scottie Pippen, Ho Grant, Dennis
Rodman and Toni Kukoc.
Moustaph Arafat is a fun player to watch. I love how
he kept this poker face in going about his game. Very much like former NU
Bulldog Jean Mbe. His block of Arnold Van Opstal’s two-handed stuff attempt was
awesome. And to think that he came from the 15-foot line to help out on
defense. And that alley-oop from Sumang for a dunk… man. I can watch that over
and over again.
UE will have that quick strike capability like they
did when they had Lee and Elmer Espiritu. And Arafat has a silky smooth medium
range jumper just like NU’s Alfred Aroga.
But they will need strong inside play. Paging Chris
Javier. This is where you have to make a stand and show what kind of player you
are. And Ivan Hernandez has to get out of his Robocop mode and rebound.
And speaking of inside presence, in one moment,
Derrick Pumaren inherited one of Boycie Zamar’s problems – Charles Mammie. The
Sierra Leone native did not practice and as a result didn’t play. With the UAAP
threatening to only allow one foreign player in the line-up he just might not be
on the team.
As for the other guys, if Bong Gallanza can play the
fireman’s role the way Gene Belleza did two years ago for UE that will help. He
has to be aggressive in attacking that basket rather than relying on kickouts.
This team cannot keep throwing up three-point shots
because their average hovers around 20-30% which isn’t very good. Sumang can
carry the team for stretches but opposing teams will try to confound him; force
him to give up that ball and put taller and athletic players in front of him.
You take away that drive, he’ll just be an outside shooter. It falls to Gino
Jumao-as to help out in this regard. He has to be aggressive in attacking and
creating. That will make life easier for guys like Arafat, Javier, and Hernandez.
Dan Alberto as back-up point guard has to play
better. But it will be tough for him as UE is thin. They’ve got so many new
guys. They were tabbed for five 24-second shot clock violations but that wasn’t
entirely because La Salle’s defense was great; UE just kept passing the rock
around because no one wanted to take the shot. Again I know it’s the pre-season
and they will learn but it is painfully obvious on what they need to achieve.
La Salle
Green Archers
In a pre-game interview (and it became very apparent
at the end of this game), junior forward Jeron Teng nailed it as sweet as a
game-winning jumper – the green and white now have the confidence to close out
games.
Harried by a late UE run, La Salle shut down their
opponent with strong play. There was that ball going out of bounds but was
saved by Yutien Andrada to Jeron Teng for an undergoal stab. There was that
missed corner three by Almond Vosotros that fell into Arnold Van Opstal’s hands
for a bucket (they practice that play joked Vosotros). And speaking of Vosotros
– there are players who you if you are an opponent do not want to see get hot
from the outside. Vosotros, like UST’s Kevin Ferrer and UE’s Sumang are the
other two. Golden hands is the term. But La Salle has two because there’s Matt
Salem. I guess, UE forgot all about him too and he made them pay for their
disrespect.
Vosotros, as usual, was steady in the clutch. Hence,
this win.
You have to like the depth and talent of this team.
They’ve got the height, defense, speed, shooting, and the halfcourt and
fastbreaking style down pat (not in that order mind you).
There were concerns about their playmaking… but with
Thomas Torres, Kib Montalbo, and Terrence Mustre, they are okay. Vosotros can
even run the point.
Prince Rivero even as a rookie showed what he can do.
He isn’t afraid to drive and showed good basketball IQ. I’ve seen him play even
in high school all the way to the NBTC All-Star Game and I thought to myself,
second coming of Rafa Dinglasan (hey, buddy) but with better offense. That
means energy, hustle and smarts.
Norbert looked lost much like he did for stretches in
last season. But never discount this guy.
Outside Rivero, the other newbie who showed some
fight in him was Mustre. He committed some errors but you could see the
determination on his face to do something positive. You have to appreciate
that. Abu Tratter was not his usual self where he would drive hard to the
basket (when playing for La Salle’s Team B). I thought he was coasting or maybe
even feeling his way around. We’ve seen Julian Sargent play in last pre-season
and well, there’s an upside maybe somewhere.
How do you beat this team that has the makings of a
super team? You have to not match them but take it to them. You need to play as
a team because La Salle is deep and can hurt you in so many ways.
Even in only the pre-season, the UAAP has been served
notice that the Green Archers mean business about annexing a back-to-back
crown.
"Outside Rivero, the other newbie who should some fight in him was Mustre."
ReplyDeleteRick, I think you meant "showed" instead of "should".