One Day Later: JRU vs LPU, MIT vs UPHSD

JRU 74 - LPU 68
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Player of the Game : Nice to see your groin injury's all healed up Nate, because the Heavy Bombers sure have missed you. After struggling through the beginning of the season without him, Matute showed that he's all right now, scoring nine points on three triples in the fourth quarter of a tight game to shift momentum and the lead to JRU, giving his squad the win. The fourth-year shooter finished with a career-high 23 points, and added six rebounds and three steals.

JRU Positives :

• The Heavy Bombers tied a season-high in triples, with five in this game, three coming in the fourth quarter. That's a good number for them, but about average for the rest of the league.
• Overall, JRU did a good job defensively, as Lyceum managed just 30 percent from the field, after averaging 41 percent coming into the game. That came about because the Heavy Bombers shut down the interior, allowing just 14 makes on 48 attempts for 29 percent shooting inside the arc, making this their best game in both categories, FG and 2pt.
• John Montemayor has been making strides, finishing this encounter with 11 rebounds and a whopping seven blocks. The blocks have been coming lately, tallying six in his four prior to this game, but the 11 boards is a nice bounce-back from just two versus San Beda.

JRU Negatives :

• This time it was foul trouble slowing John Lopez down, as he only got 23 minutes on the court, finishing with three points and five rebounds, thanks to being saddled with four fouls.
• What would this squad have done without Matute? Not made triples, that's what. All five came from him, as no one else on the team could connect from long-distance.

LPU Positives :

• The Pirates managed to get both Chris Cayabyab and Floricel Guevarra online at the same time, as the high-scoring duo finished with 21 points each. 

LPU Negatives :

• Unfortunately, despite the 42 points the team still lost. 
• JRU made sure to cut off the drive and then dish to a big man for an open jumper tactic that the Pirates relied heavily on in the earlier parts of the season. As a result, the pair of Onofre Napiza and Arwin Azores combined for just eight points. 
• A lot of the Pirates' 34 misses from inside the three-point line were not bad shots, just shots that would not fall down. Similarly, the bulk of their 22 turnovers were not forced, bur rather, ordinary carelessness from the ball handlers.
• No one could have stepped up to stop Nate Matute late? No one?

MIT 65 - UPHSD 63
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Player of the Game : The only Cardinal who consistently put his head down and attacked the zone, Josan Nimes deservedly finished with 21 points, finishing 7 of 12 from the field and 6 of 6 from the line. He also had seven rebounds, four assists and a block, but turned the ball over four times.

MIT Positives :

• They won the game.
• Josan Nimes spread the wealth around, meaning he didn't score the vast majority of his points in a single quarter (8-7-2-4). Nimes was the only player consistently attacking the rim so he gets a lot of props from me. If only his teammates had taken his lead.

MIT Negatives :

• If La Salle fans thought their zone offense was horrible, they need to settle down and watch how the Cardinals tried attacking it. 
• Despite a massive advantage in height, Mapua kept repeatedly falling back on long-range shots, taking 28 triple attempts, while Yousef Taha, Mike Parala, Mark Sarangay and Jason Cantos, who combined for 69 minutes, totaled just eight shots. Perpetual Help also got as many offensive rebounds, 11, as the Cardinals, although to be fair, majority of those came on a single sequence in which they had five tries to make a single field goal.
• Mapua turned over the ball 22 times, which led to 22 turnover points by Perpetual Help.

UPHSD Positives :

• The Altas got a stunning performance from Harold Arboleda, a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 6 of 7 from the field, including a perfect 3 for 3 from downtown. 
• Clearly, Perpetual Help looked at the tape of St. Benilde beating Mapua and patterned their game plan after what the Blazers did. In truth, it nearly worked, as the zone stymied the Cards repeatedly 
• Though they fell short of snatching the win, it was an amazing effort from this plucky team and they deserve credit for that.

UPHSD Negatives :

• The free throw shooting was horrible. Though they got 10 more attempts, 25 to 15, than Mapua, both teams made the same amount, just 12. Had the Altas made just three more, there would have been no need for the late-game heroics. 
• Jeorge Allen just cannot catch a break, twisting an ankle after just coming back a few games ago from injury. His rebounding certainly would have helped late.

NCAA Picking Record: 30-11