One Day Later: DLSU vs UE, ADMU vs UST

Down. Out? The defeated faces of the Green Archers say volumes (pic source)

UE 74 - DLSU 69
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Player of the Game : Remember when Paul Zamar dropped 20 on NU in the first round before scoring just four in round two? Well it looks like he reloaded for the DLSU game, scoring a game-high 19 points to lead his Warriors. He also made 8 of 10 from the foul line, and added two rebounds, two assists and just a single turnover with no fouls.

DLSU Positives :

• Simon Atkins and LA Revilla both passed medical tests that allowed them to play today. 
• With the exception of their free throw shooting, La Salle actually played very close to their season averages coming into this game.

DLSU Negatives :

• The Yutien Andrada injury was gruesome to watch. The guys sitting around me immediately said ACL, though there's no official word as to his injury yet. 
• It's hard to figure out La Salle's free throw shooting. They normed 67.95 percent in their first five games, a huge improvement on their 59 percent summer clip. Since a disastrous 39.13 percent figure versus Adamson in round one though (a game they could have won had they made charities), their shooting has been on a decline (though they did make 11 of 15 versus the Falcons in round two), and in this game, they shot just 52 percent, or 13 of 25. 
• Maybe it's too easy to harp on a coach's rotation after the fact, but there were some really weird moves made by coach Dindo Pumaren. After his spectacular heroic effort versus Adamson, Almond Vosotros was rewarded with...12 minutes of playing time. With UE pressing, La Salle turned to...the turnover prone Joshua Webb, who tallied a team-high four mistakes in 18 minutes. When they desperately needed a trey they turned to...Joseph Marata, who was ice cold after spending lots of time on the bench (Marata by the way is shooting 9 of 35, 25.71 percent from beyond the arc. Luigi Dela Paz on the other hand, is 9 of 17, for a team high 52.94 percent on treys). Needing to press their height advantage, La Salle fields...shot blocker Papot Paredes and hustle player Jovet Mendoza.
• I humble submit the nickname "Trick or Treat" for Jarelan Tampus. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he's horrible. Unfortunately for the Archers, he was the latter today, going 0 for 7 from the field in 16 minutes of play for a grand total of two points. It's a bad follow-up to his last outing, when he was just 2 of 13 for six points.

UE Positives :

• When the Red Warriors put points on the board, good things happen, simple as that. In both of UE's wins, they broke the 70-point barrier, scoring 72 versus NU in round one, and 74 versus La Salle. Another key number? Lots of points in the paint, as they scored 38 today, and 44 in their NU win. 
• Great show of fighting spirit by the Warriors, coming on the heels of a 40-point blowout loss. 
• Gutsy coaching by Jerry Codinera, who zagged, pressing into a 2-2-1 zone, when everyone else was zigging, using a 2-3 zone. It could have backfired hugely on their faces, but Codinera was confident his guards could pull it off and they did, forcing La Salle into 24 turnovers, a season-high for them.

UE Negatives :

• UE is still horrible from outside the arc, making just 1 out of 10 triples in this game. Luckily for them, it didn't matter in this game. 

Face palm. The UST coaching staff simply had no answers in this game (pic source)

ADMU 82 - UST 57
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Player of the Game : Nico Salva followed up his sweet-shooting game versus FEU with an encore performance, scoring 20 on 7 of 11 shooting, plus a 6 for 6 stint at the line, plus seven boards and two assists. While basketball convention says he's taking some extremely inefficient jump shots, the fact is he's making them and that's really what counts.

ADMU Positives :

• Coach Norman Black wanted better ball movement on offense and the same level of defensive intensity in the first quarter. Check and check, as the Eagles tallied four assists on six field goals, while holding the Tigers to 2 of 13 shooting in the first quarter. 
• The Eagles leaned on their usual strengths, free throw shooting (hitting 90.3 percent of 31 free throws), transition points (19 fast break points), and turnover points (24 points). That allowed them to shrug off a 2 for 13 performance from beyond the arc. 
• Ateneo's coaching staff made a concentrated effort to get Justin Chua lots of touches, allowing him to finish with 18 points. Chua was in a huge slump at the start of the season, but the Eagles will need him down the stretch as a main weapon off the bench, so hopefully this improves his confidence by a lot. 
• Three steals by Kiefer Ravena, three fastbreak layups by Ravena.
• Despite going with a bench crew, and eventually, third-stringers, in the fourth period, against mostly UST starters, Ateneo was down just 14-20 in that period, which speaks to the depth of this team.
• Keeping his cool this time, Emman Monfort was able to make life a living hell for Jeric Fortuna. Prior to the fourth quarter, Fortuna scored just two points on 1 of 5 shooting, and had two rebounds and three steals.

ADMU Negatives :

• A few players missed a couple of make-able layups here and there. (We're grasping for straws here)

UST Positives :

• Karim Abdul kept his double-doubles streak alive, extending it to three games with a 12-19 effort.
• Despite the presence of Greg Slaughter, the Tigers still owned the glass, with a 51-45 rebound advantage, 25-10 on offensive boards.

UST Negatives :

• UST was held to season-lows in all scoring percentages, except perimeter shooting percentage.
• The Tigers also conceded a season-high in turnover points, allowing 24 turnover points on 23 errors.  
• Did UST really need to keep their starters in the game late? Players like Louie Vigil could have made better use of the fourth quarter playing time, while fans could have seen the first minutes of Jaypee Sarcia in college. 

UAAP Picking Record: 27-9