San Sebastian rallies to shoot down the Heavy Bombers

San Sebastian rallies to shoot down the Heavy Bombers

by rick olivares*

“Champions teams die hard. I believe so.”

Thus said Ato Agustin in the aftermath of another San Sebastian comeback where his charges rallied from a 13-point deficit with nine minutes to play to beat Jose Rizal University 64-59.

The defending champion Stags were taking it on the chin from the hot shooting of Nate Matute who was torching them from way out. In the late third period, the Fil-Am guard hit back-to-back threes to help JRU to its biggest lead in the game. With 6'10" Cameroonian center Joe Etame shutting down the interior, the Stags were groping for points. But with the Stag stud Calvin Abueva constantly requiring double-teaming, the arc opened up for Jonathan Semira who hit two triples while Ronald Pascual added one of his own. En route to another comeback in a season filled with them, San Sebastian blanked the Heavy Bombers in the final seven minutes.

"Our adjustment was to stop their shooters. Once we accomplished that nahirapan na sila," said Agustin. Abueva, battling San Beda’s Sudan Daniel for the MVP Award this Season 86 of the NCAA, scored 13 points on top of pulling down 18 rebounds. “He just got back from an injury so hindi pa siya 100%. Then si Pascual ganun din. Galing sakit. But they do not give up easily.”

With the win, San Sebastian stayed a game behind unbeaten San Beda with a 10-1 record while JRU fell to 8-3 with all losses coming from the top two teams.

----------------

* This was the second part of the report I filed yesterday.

JRU executed their offense much better yesterday as they spread their shooters around to open it up for Joe Etame. I think while that's basic ball, they have to get the Lopezes in the game. That will make it doubly hard for foes to man up on their shooters and centers. That was a tough loss as the Stags were staring at a second loss.

The foul by Ray Maconocido on Jay-R Bulangis should have been a flagrant one. Anytime you take down someone below the knees is uncool. You can end a player's career right there. Sure it was a scramble for the ball but I do not know why they allow this in the NCAA. I've seen this happen time and again. Letran's Kevin Alas went  down in a similar incident. I asked Sudan Daniel (am writing something about SBC's center) about playing above the rim and he says that he's well aware of people trying to take him down. "I cannot worry about that. When I start thinking that I can get injured in a play that's when something happens because you're not locked in," said Daniel.

I know that I said that if John Wilson were still playing for JRU then they'd be solid contenders. I'm taking that back. As good as Wilson is as a streak shooter, he isn't exactly one who can pass the rock around. I'm not sure that Raycon Kabigting and Nate Matute will play that will since Wilson will get more touches. So this team is fine. IMHO, they need to get the Lopezes untracked.

Congrats to Borgie Hermida and Marvin Hayes for being drafted. But as Marvin said yesterday, "Pirmahan na lang." He surely remembers what happened to JR Sena from last year. I hope so too, buddy. Good luck with that.