One Day Later: ADU vs UE, UP vs ADMU

Camson to the rescue - the big man gave the Falcons the low post presence they needed to hold off UE (pic source)

ADU 76 - UE 57
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Player of the Game : Without a legit center to throw the ball to down low and watch him pulverize the smaller UE players, the Adamson Falcons settled for the next best thing, giving Eric Camson the run of the place, and the big man delivered. Camson scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half, and paired that up with 15 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, helping blowout UE late.

ADU Positives :

• A big second-half showing by the Falcons keyed in their win, going from 11 of 40 shooting in the game's first twenty minutes to 19 of 29 in the latter part of the encounter. Head coach Leo Austria were heaving up shots after one or two passes, looking out for their own points, but after a likely dressing down in the lockers at the break, the Falcons got back on track to overwhelm the Red Warriors.
• Alex Nuyles has had an impressive second-half of the season, expanding his game to include other facets besides just scoring. His first round averages were 15.4 points, 3.8 rebounds 2.2 assists and 0.7 steals,  and though his scoring is down to just a flat 14 in round two, everything else has gone up: 7.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals. 
• Sitting Austin Manyara as a precaution for Saturday's UST game, the Falcons got eight points, 12 rebounds and two blocks from sophomore Rodney Brondial in just 18 minutes. Had he not gotten into trouble, he probably could have tallied a double-double.

ADU Negatives :

• The Falcons had just five assists in the first half and took 17 triples, making just four, underscoring the selfish nature of their initial game (those numbers improved to 12 assists and 4 of 7 three-point shooting in the second half)

UE Positives :

• The Red Warriors kept things close in the first half, leading by a point, 28-27. Paul Zamar scored eight on 2 of 3 shooting, while Adrian Santos added five. Also, seven other Warriors contributed at least two points, confounding the Adamson defense.

UE Negatives :

• UE could not get anyone going after the break. Needing at least one player to go off for big points to match Adamson, the Falcons' 2-3 zone shut down the Red Warriors. They managed just 12 points in the third, and really, only 10 points in the fourth, before Paul Zamar closed the game by scoring seven against Adamson's third-stringers. 

A happy birthday - the Blue Eagles celebrated captain Kirk Long's birthday by improving to 12-0 (pic source)

ADMU 73 - UP 58
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Player of the Game : Monster numbers from Greg Slaughter helped propel the Blue Eagles to this win as the big man scored a massive double-double, 18 points and 18 rebounds, with nine points coming in the third quarter, to quash the UP Fighting Maroons.

ADMU Positives :

• The bigs came up big for Ateneo, as Greg Slaughter, Nico Salva and Justin Chua combined for 45 points, 34 rebounds and five blocks, outrebounding the entire UP team. 
• Bacon Austria brought a lot of hustle to the Blue Eagles, as he pulled down eight rebounds, dished out three assists and made a steal, to go along with his four points in 18 minutes of play. 
• The Eagles nullified Alinko Mbah's presence on the floor through a combination of foul trouble and heads up defense. The big man played just 14 minutes and pulled down a single rebound and blocked one shot. 
• In the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, Ateneo held UP to just a field goal and two free throws in another late-game display of defense.

ADMU Negatives :

• Ateneo posted 22 turnovers against a team that isn't known for their pressure defense, and missed 10 free throws, both uncharacteristic errors that may have come about due to a lax attitude (Thursday afternoon game, post-DLSU win) and some unusual player rotation (due to Frank Golla being held out with a light sprain)

UP Positives :

• Despite defense from Kirk Long and Tonino Gonzaga, among others, Mike Silungan was able to get uncorked, scoring 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting, including two triples, while adding eight rebounds and three assists. He had scored just a total of 10 points in their last two games, and was 0 for 16 from beyond the arc, prior to this match. 
• Mark Juruena had his best game of the season, scoring 12 points, the first time he broke double-digits this season. He hit a nice selection of long jumpers, including a triple, which came in handy as the big guarding him could not rotate that far out to the perimeter to cover him.
• Up until the fourth quarter, UP had quite a good showing, repeatedly going back at Ateneo whenever the Eagles would make a big run. They made some timely offensive bursts to dull big leads, especially since Ateneo was threatening to blow this game open as early as the second quarter.
• UP only turned the ball over seven times, preventing the Eagles from getting easy turnover points. Good transition defense also prevented Ateneo from establishing a fastbreak game.

UP Negatives :

• For the third straight game, a team has held the Fighting Maroons below 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc. UP is a mere 9 for 56 since playing NU, just 16 percent from the field. 
• Aside from Mike Silungan, UP's shooters were horribly quiet, with Jett Manuel, Mike Gamboa and Jelo Montecastro combining for just nine points on 3 of 17 shooting.

UAAP Picking Record: 35-11