by rick olivares
With a minute and 58 seconds left in the first
period, Charles Mammie botched a two-handed dunk that left the Mandaue Sports
Complex chorusing in unison, “ooohhh.”
“Damn!” yelled the University of the East’s center
from Sierra Leone.
“Forget about it, Charles,” intoned UE head coach
Derrick Pumaren who waved his players to get back on defense. “It’s over. Get
back and play defense.”
For the young UE Red Warriors, the game against the
University of San Carlos Warriors at the Mandaue Sports Complex will eventually
be forgotten. But for this college basketball season, the match will serve a
larger purpose.
For much of the fourth period, Roi Sumang was on the
bench (he was being conserved), Charles Mammie and Chris Javier were in foul
trouble (they eventually fouled out one after the other), and Moustapha Arafat
didn’t return for the entire second half after he pulled up lame.
When the fourth period started, the score stood at
69-45 for the Red Warriors. Pumaren started Mark Olayon who had his first taste
of game action, young frontliners Doods Pillas and Zyron Cudal, Gino Jumao-as,
and Sumang.
The immediately pressed and Jumao-as managed to poke
the ball away from USC’s Glennson Ybanez. Jumao-as picked up the ball and threw
a two-handed forward pass to a streaking Olayon.
Olayon who has blown hot and cold this pre-season
corralled the ball, too a step then dribbled (he wasn’t called for traveling)
then cradled the ball in one arm then rose up in the air. He tomahawked it home
against two USC Warriors – center Espoir Toyambi and forward Ian Ortega who
both elected not to attempt to block the shot.
UE’s bench rose in unison cheering. Pumaren pumped
his fist. The Cebuano crowd applauded. “Damn,” yelled a buoyant Mammie who
slapped hands with Olayon. “That was some dunk.”
The score stood at 71-45, a game high 26-point lead
for UE.
Just when it seemed that the Warriors were headed for
another blowout loss, they found a spark of life. Aided by a lack of an
intimidating center inside for UE plus some questionable officiating, the once
mighty lead quickly evaporated.
After Olayon’s moonwalk, Toyambi inspired a 12-1 run
that cut the lead to 15, 72-57.
Jumao-as, who didn’t score but tallied two rebounds,
five assists, and one block, found an wide open Dan Alberto who rifled home a
triple to stop the bleeding.
But USC had one more run in them as this time, it was
Shooster Olago who rose the crest of the wave. At the 3:48 mark, Olago finished
off his own death-defying dunk after UE’s Bong Galanza turned the ball over.
Olago’s stuff wasn’t counted because of an earlier foul. But after Dan Alberto
telegraphed a pass that Olago intercepted, he was cleared for take off. His
massive jam pegged the score at 75-66 and got the whole arena rocking for the
home team that had taken it on the chin all game long.
UE called time and Moustapha Arafat, unable to help
his team because of a minor injury, seethed and gave Olago dagger looks. But he
never went back in as Pumaren kept an unusual five of Sumang, Paul Varilla (who
has been starting of late), Cudal, Daryll Guiang, and Jumao-as on the floor. “I
will need other to step up during the UAAP season,” later explained Pumaren.
“There will be games where my starters will be in foul trouble or unavailable. This
is a good way to test my young players.”
After Olago’s slam, UE would score only one more
point (they finished with a measly seven points in the fourth period). The
power outage was shocking to say the least. But a win is a win as they say. The
Red Warriors beat the Warriors, 76-68, for their second consecutive win in the
Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup to go to 2-2. USC, already out of the running
for a quarterfinals berth in the competition, dropped to 1-4.
The Red Warriors are still learning to play together
after being under Pumaren for only a month and a half. Last season, their
battle cry after breaking a huddle was, “Warrior ako!”
This year, it’s “Defense!”
In the press conference at the Sarrosa International
Hotel in front of the Cebu media, Pumaren emphasized just that, “I am a
defensive coach.”
And these Red Warriors look promising on defense.
They harassed USC into 26 turnovers that translated into 22 turnover points.
However, the game is played on both sides of the
court, and throughout the match, Pumaren and younger brother, Dindo, who once
was UE’s head coach and is now an assistant, harped on proper positioning and
decision-making.
After forcing a turnover, three Red Warriors were
bunched together on the break. “Stay wide!” barked Dindo. Varilla drifted to
the right while Chris Javier went left. Galanza, who was bringing up the ball
surveyed his options. He fed Javier on the left and the fourth year UE
forward-center spun around Toyambi for a deuce to make it 11-5 in the first
period.
After Olayon’s slam, Cudal was fouled underneath the
UE basket on a follow up, Dindo quipped out loud, “Akala ko ida-dunk mo.” That
had the bench in stitches.
But the laughter was soon replaced by concern because
of USC’s searing rally. The Warriors however, also shot themselves in the foot
by missing five free throws in the final period and six in the third for a
total of 25 missed free throw attempts (they were awarded 55 attempts). And UE
survived despite their paltry seven final period points (to the 23 of USC) for
a 76-68 victory.”
“I really have to give credit to my players because
they played very well on defense,” said Derrick Pumaren after the match. “It’s
unfortunate to see that good game be taken away by the rough play that saw
several of my players get injured. But we’re getting there. Hopefully, we will
continue to play well.”
UE 76 – Galanza 19,
Sumang 11, Alberto 9, Arafat 8, Javier 6, De Leon 6, Varilla 4, Mammie 4,
Guiang 2, Olayon 2, Palma 2, Caparida 2, Cudal 1, Jumao-as 0, Pillas 0.
USC 68 – Shooster 27,
Toyambi 12, Ortega 11, Magat 10, Ybanez 3, Adlawan 3, Egna 2, Rabat 0, Lim 0,
Laguyo 0, Bensig 0, Trozo 0.
No comments:
Post a Comment