Monday, July 25, 2011

One Day Later: NU vs FEU, UST vs ADU

FEU 62 - NU 59
Recap - - - Preview

Player of the Game : The insertion of 6'10" Christian Sentcheu into the middle of the FEU 2-3 zone was a gamechanger by head coach Bert Flores, as his presence inside was so intimidating that the Bulldogs opted to throw up long jumpers instead of driving in. The numbers even bare it out, as after attempting 13 perimeter shots and 15 shots in the paint in the first half, the numbers flipped drastically in the second half to 19 perimeter shots and only 9 shots in the paint for the latter half of the game. So while Sentcheu's line of 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks may not seem very exciting, his contributions go deeper than the statistics.

NU Stat to Watch : Against a team that doesn't force a whole lot of turnovers, NU managed to make just 17 miscues, a decent number for collegiate ball. The Tams were able to take those 17 turnovers and score 15 turnover points, which is in line with what NU did, taking FEU's 16 turnovers and converting them into 13 turnover points.
NU Player to Watch : Gelo Alolino continues to take big shots and why not since he makes them? In just a 17 minute stint, Alolino went 5 of 9 from the field for 12 points, 8 coming in the second half. That includes 5 straight at the end of the third that made it 54-49, NU, with 51 seconds left in the quarter, and then a triple with 7:23 left in the fourth to give NU a two-possession lead, 57-53.

FEU Stat to Watch : It's been a constant theme of Coach Flores' post-game interviews: rebounds, rebounds, rebounds. He probably went to sleep happy last night then as his team lorded over the rebounding stat for all but one quarter, finishing with 48 to just 27 by NU. He'll no doubt be quite please as well with the fact that the Tams pulled down 21 of those on the offensive end, tripling what NU got in that category. Only Mbe had a decent showing in the rebounding totals, finishing with 8, 3 offensive. Even Parks was quiet, getting just one offensive rebound in addition to four defensive ones.
FEU Player to Watch : Coach Flores opted to go with various defenders on Parks, instead of just one main stopper, cycling in guys like Chris Tolomia, JR Cawaling, Gryann Mendoza, and Terrence Romeo, but the guy who got the most minutes covering him was Ping Exciminiano, and the "defense by committee" approach worked out well. Parks finished with his lowest output, 11 points, and Exciminiano had another all-around game, 5 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Other Stats:
  • The difference in offensive rebounds translated to second chance points, where FEU was a dominant 11 to 2.
  • Parks took just 7 field goal attempts in the entire game. 3 came in the final quarter, and all of them were triples. NU has to use him better, setting some screens for him, maybe posting him up, or even running pick and rolls for him and Mbe.


ADU 81 - UST 71
Recap - - - Preview

Player of the Game : After sitting out much of the third with foul trouble, Janus Lozada picked right where he left off in the first half, where he finished with 12 points, totaling 9 in the final quarter and made sure UST wasn't going to launch any comebacks. Playing just 22 minutes, the fifth-year guard had 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting, plus four rebounds and two assists. He also did a pretty good job on Kevin Ferrer, preventing the rookie from having a big night. 

UST Stat to Watch : A big performance from rookie big man Karim Abdul (13 points, 10 rebounds), helped UST's rebounding by a lot. Though they were blowed out early, the Tigers managed to finish with just three less rebounds than the Falcons, and inched ahead of them by one in the offensive rebound category. They also allowed just 2 second chance points from the Falcons.
UST Player to Watch : A combination of Lester Alvarez and Jerick Canada shut down Jeric Fortuna, allowing just 8 points from the fiery floor general, including critically, no triples in three tries. Fortuna added 5 rebounds and 4 assists, but was unable to save the Tigers in the end, like he had done in previous games.

ADU Stat to Watch : A large part of Adamson's success in this game came by way of how they defended the perimeter, allowing just 2 triples in 14 tries by the Growling Tigers. Including all shots not in the paint, the Tigers were just 6 of 25, as Adamson made UST take it inside, where the Falcons had the advantage.
ADU Player to Watch : Another strong start for Alex Nuyles meant another strong start for the Falcons, as Nuyles scored 8 of his 16 points in the first quarter, to power Adamson to a 16-2 start that knocked the wind out of UST early on. Nuyles was hot from beyond the arc, finishing 4/6, and he also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Other Stats:
  • The Falcons shot 8 of 20 from beyond the arc for 40 percent three-point shooting, their best downtown performance of the young season.
  • Kevin Ferrer took 8 of UST's 14 triples, and made just two of them, finishing with 9 points.
  • Jeric Teng started the game with three turnovers, throwing the ball to teammates who weren't there, forcing Coach Pido Jarencio to bench him temporarily. Those would be his only turnovers of the game,


UAAP Picking Record: 10-4

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