In yesterday's FilOil games:
FEU pounced on two mistakes by UP in the crucial stages of their quarterfinals match yesterday. The Maroons were able to keep pace with FEU but to close the lane from incursions by RR Garcia, they shifted to a zone. That gave the Tamaraws' zone buster Paul Sanga room for three consecutive treys (Pippo Noundou added one of his own after to cap the run) that broke the game wide open. How did that happen? With the spacing of the Maroons defenders who were guarding against the drive of Garcia. It was a gamble you could say -- pick your poison. Hope that Sanga would continue to miss or let Garcia drive. Dang! They paid for it. The second was when they kept Mike Silungan on the bench during that stretch and instead opted to go with Martin Reyes who was mostly shooting blanks yesterday. Silungan himself didn't have a good shooting day but he was taking the ball to the rack using his quickness and athleticism to blow by defenders.
Gotta give credit to UP's Jett Manuel who provided a huge lift for his side with his hustle and spunk and to Magi Sison who got the better of his FEU counterparts yesterday.
Purefoods' Don Allado remarked that he saw a little of himself in Silungan when he first arrived from the States. "P**a! Ang yabang," he said candidly about the UP player's stride and swagger. "Pero that was nothing compared to me. I was worse." He then let out a hearty laugh.
In case you don't know, Mike, who hails from Chicago, Illinois, is named after this other dude who wears #23 and once played for the Bulls. Yep, he's Michael Jeffrey Silungan. Had a nice chat with him. Yep, we're rooting for the Blackhawks. Game 6 for the Stanley Cup today (shucks wrote this kasi last night), dude!
The second game saw the JRU Heavy Bombers and the favored San Beda Red Lions play in an intense match. JRU took it to the heart of SBC immediately with Alex Almario and John Lopez leading the way early on. The crazy thing is they were doing it mostly playing one-on-one. A 20-minute power interruption in the late 2nd Quarter nearly derailed their momentum but they continued to wax hot upon the resumption of the 3rd as they went up by 14.
That's when Borgie Hermida showed all who were watching that he could take over the game as he scored what -- seven or eight straight points? Then Kyle Pascual tied the match before fouling out.
But three missed free throws (2 by Hermida and 1 by Sudan Daniel) in the closing minutes plus a steal by Raycon Kabigting off Rome dela Rosa during an inbound play by SBC did them in. Su Daniels was whistled for a T for kicking Kabigting but that wasn't the damaging part to SBC. It was that steal and John Njei's huge offensive rebound that prserved their 67-64 lead for the final score.
Lost in all of this was the superb performance by Joe Etame. I thought that he was the difference for JRU as he scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had 1 assist. His slam off a Lopez feed took it to the stunned Red Lions who missed their chances to eke out another rally. But that was an awesome game.
Incidentally, the two teams played in the finals of the Fr. Martin Cup I (but JRU was without Etame) and the Red Lions prevailed.
And it set the stage for another upset as the Adamson Falcons booted out Ateneo de Manila for the second time in three years in the FilOil Quarterfinals. Both Blue Eagle losses were their immediate game following their return from the USA.
Like in the Fr. Martin game where Ateneo dug themselves into a hole early on with poor play, poor defense, and poor shooting. For a quarter there it was just Nico Salva vs. Adamson. They came back to even take the lead largely because of the efforts of Kirk Long. But save for a few superb defensive plays they couldn't sustain their momentum as they looked sluggish. In the meantime, Austin Manyara and Roider Cabrera picked up the slack from Eric Camson who led the team in scoring in the first half. The pair hit 7 triples in the second half to put away Ateneo to barge into the semis against FEU.
It was nice to see them celebrate at their side of the court. Good job to them and good luck in the semis.
In the nightcap, San Sebastian fended off a feisty De La Salle team with tough and gusty play. And they did this without Ian Sangalang who got injured in the first minute of play. As he landed on the floor during a rebound play, he heard a pop in his foot (it could be some ligament damage) and was taken out right away. On the sidelines he could move his foot (a bad sign). Guess they gotta look for a replacement while there's time but losing your 6'7" battle-tested center is tough.
From a close halftime lead of 2 points (was it), the Stags pulled away in the third as they went up event by 16. Almond Vosotros played superb as the Green Archers tried to rally. The Stags won 84-76.
But the Green Archers couldn't match up with Calvin Abueva (who I penciled in upcoming fourth issue of Rebound as the likely NCAA MVP). He scored 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and had 2 shot blocks. In case ya don't know, he's averaging a double-double.
And here's a joke that DLSU coach Dindo Pumaren likes to share about his squad -- para silang "security agency" -- puro guard. Bwahaha. The coach has always had a sense of humor.
Hey, Chris. You surprised that I can speak Kapampangan? Well, I do but it's good not great though. I understand it more than I can speak it. Bwahaha.
So one one side, it's an all-UAAP affair between FEU and Adamson and on the other it's San Sebastian vs. JRU.
That's on Friday, folks! See ya there.
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