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.