by rick olivares
It’s just the pre-season but the way these two teams
played it was as if it was for the championship. It took two overtimes to
decide it in the Red Lions’ favor.
Pulsating. Riveting. And as always, intense. If you
paid money to watch last Saturday’s opening of the Filoil Flying V Hanes
Premier Cup, this match alone was worth the price of admission.
I know it’s just the pre-season but nevertheless,
here are some thoughts.
San Beda’s winning ways no longer surprise me. Even
for a team that isn’t bristling with the weaponry it once had, they can still
put up the points.
What surprised me honestly was Letran.
No Raymond Almazan. No Jonathan Belorio. No John
Tambeling. And No Franz Dysam. Well, they just keep on ticking.
The hustle, energy, and never-say-die spirit continue
for this team of – with all due respect here – no names. Maybe Rey Nambatac is
the closest to a big name coming out of Letran high school as not much was
expected of Mark Cruz who people didn’t think would do well in college.
But Cruz is one of those best pound-for-pound players
who seemingly can get a shot of against anyone.
It’s tough that Letran lost three key players in
Nambatac, Cruz, and Kevin Racal to foul trouble but the guys left on the floor
were pretty good. Rey Publico had potential last year but this year, yowza! Imagine
if he weren’t in foul trouble as well.
Jamil Gabawan is one of my favorite college players.
He’s one of those classic Letran tough guys who does not flinch, does all the
dirty work, and has terrific game. He paired with Belorio last year in doing all
of that but it looks like this year, he has another tag team partner in Ian
Dela Peña who has a good medium range shot. Ola Adeogun could not push him back
at all! That left me shaking my head. He tried several times but couldn’t do
so.
The other newbies – Daryll Singkontiko and Chester
Saldua – aren’t so bad at all. They can shoot and are the active sort.
Felix Apreku could be in the mold of George Allen; one
of those wondrous under-sized Perpetual Help Altas forwards of several years
ago. Could be a defensive stopper with loads of hustle and speed.
They were too far behind
in rebounds – 57-41 to San Beda. So they need to gang rebound. But without that
man in the middle to guard the likes of Ola Adeogun they’ll be in foul trouble
a lot.
Letran has never been one to marshal their fouls
because of their physical game. I am not even venturing about changing their
style of play. They found a style they are comfortable with and it works for
them. But foul trouble is something they do not need especially with their thin
front line corps.
Furthermore, I am not sure if it’s a good idea to put
Rey Nambatac on Baser Amer. Letran needs his offense to complement Mark Cruz.
Singkontiko and Saldua will score but we’re not sure if they can be consistent
in their play. So Nambatac and Kevin Racal – especially Kevin Racal – need to
play better.
For San Beda to win it all again, they will need
their entire team to chip in. Aside from Amer, the only one who can put points
on the board on a regular basis are Art dela Cruz and Adeogun. Francis Abarcar
could be that fourth scoring option. This kid can quarterback and can also hit
big shots. It is his misfortune that those big minutes are eaten up by Baser.
Head coach Boyet Fernandez said that he didn’t play
his rookies during crunch time with that game really close. But we can expect
others like Radge Tongco and Javee Mocon get more playing time. Mocon can be
that guy to replace Rome dela Rosa if the Semerad brothers do not play well.
The game of the Semerad brothers seems to have gone
down after their first two years. Anthony played well in this match. David
needs to pick it up some. Because if the brothers do – I don’t see any NCAA
team stopping them.
Remember this is just the pre-season. And this is
just my take away from that match.
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Next: my thoughts on the La Salle-UE Filoil match!
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