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NCAA ARTICLES
Rampaging Stags
NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week: Ian Sangalang of San Sebastian Stags
NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week Carlo Lastimosa (St Benilde)
Top Guns
Early Leaders and Early Struggles
Anybody's Game
Lyceum: New Kids in Town
Perpetual Help: Continuous Rebuild
Letran: Knight Fighting
Jose Rizal: Aerial Bombing
St Benilde: Blazing Ahead
Arellano: Third Year Charm
San Beda: New Reign
Emilio Aguinaldo College: Ups and Downs
Mapua: Building Better
San Sebastian: One More Go
Top Guns
By: Joseph W. Buduan for Philippinebasketball.ph (07/21/2011)


Things are looking pretty good for the top two seeds of the season this early in the NCAA tournament. San Sebastian survived a roughhouse game against gritty Letran College to pull out a 71-62 victory in their last outing as of this writing. 6-foot-7 center Ian Sangalang, a former RP Youth Team mainstay, led the Golden Stags with 22 points, nine rebounds and a tournament-best five blocks. Forward Calvin Abueva had seven of his 18 points in the fourth period against the Knights during a 14-0 run. During that stretch, Abueva towed the Stags from a shaky three-point edge to a 14-point cushion as the Knights faltered.

Letran tried to be their usual tough guy selves on the defensive end against San Sebastian, but they boys from CM Recto proved an altogether different proposition. Normally the Knights are able to intimidate opponents or at least get under their skin en route to a win, but that didn’t happen against the much tougher Stags of new head coach Christopher Robinson.

Letran had previously won its first three games of the season using their patented physical tactics in this match of unbeaten teams. Against Sangalang and company though, it just did not pan out. Sangalang is himself on track for a most-improved season with averages of some 17 points per game over four contests. Their league-leading defense still limited San Sebastian to only 71 points, but the Knights themselves couldn’t get much going on the scoring end. It didn’t help that lead gunner Kevin Alas and his 14 points per game fouled out with still some three minutes left in the game. Up to that moment Alas was the only one making baskets for the Knights, with Jon Espiritu, Jon Belorio and Franz Dysam unable to shake the San Sebastian defense.

Also unbeaten in the tournament is reigning champion San Beda. Facing a relatively light schedule in the early goings the Red Lions have cruised to three straight victories. Utilizing their size and depth the Red Lions have overwhelmed every opponent they’ve faced as of this writing, the last one being Arellano University. Even without American import Sudan Daniel the Red Lions still have plenty of size and strength up front with 6-foot-6 center Kyle Pascual showing good production this early in the tournament.

Newcomer Lyceum Manila has surprised a lot of people by going 4-2, also beating the skidding Chiefs 84-74 in their last outing. Floricel Guevara and Chris Cayabyab went on a three-point binge in this contest as the Pirates had a combined 12 conversions from three-point range. Former Adamson Falcons mainstay Allan Santos is also having a renaissance of sorts in the NCAA as he has averaged a double-double through five games. Santos was in fact the NCAA player of the week last week, an accolade he never got in the UAAP. “Walang gustong matalo sa guest team,” said Lyceum Coach Boni Tan with a smile in one interview.

Lyceum has surprised a lot of NCAA watchers with their high-low efficiency anchored on the 6-foot-5 Santos and the outside sniping of Guevara and Caybyab. These three have helped the Pirates match up against more experienced opponents. Their two setbacks came against reigning champion San Beda, an 89-69 blowout, and against Emilio Aguinaldo College, a 73-67 contest of attrition. Jan Hamon and Claude Cubo led the Generals in that contest, although Cubo got tossed for an unsportsmanlike foul late in the game. Jonas Paguia, the former FEU FERN star, nailed a pressure three-pointer to secure the win for EAC.

At the bottom half of the standings the Mapua Tech Cardinals have been a total enigma. Highly favored at the start of the season, the Cardinals have yet to get a win as of this writing. With a roster featuring many returning veterans and 6-foot-7 Filipino-Palestinian center Yousef Taha, Mapua was expected to be among the early leaders in the tournament. Instead they have struggled as if they were the guest team. “Parati silang kinakapos sa end-game,” noted one rival assistant coach. “It’s like they play only 35 minutes of good basketball then just disappear,” he added.

Mapua can thank its lucky stars that this is a long season with a 10-team field, which means they still have 14 games left in the regular season to turn things around. The same might be said of the Jose Rizal Heavy Bombers, who have only one win as of this writing. Both teams had strong showings in the offseason, and both return with a veteran core, which makes their early tournament troubles so much more puzzling. “We are hoping to turn things around,” said Coach Vergel Meneses.


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