One Day Later: NU vs UST, DLSU vs FEU

NU 73 - UST 49
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Player of the Game : Bobby Ray Parks ended his campaign for the MVP award with a 22 point, eight rebound, six assist, one steal, three block performance. I liked how he was really trying to get other guys involved, especially Mbe early on, with his passing, and of course, the way he got his 21st and 22nd points was mind-blowingly lucky, but...you know what, I'll save my MVP rant for another time. Until then, here's video of that crazy shot.

NU Positives :

• The Bulldogs concentrated on getting the UST bigs in foul trouble, knowing that there wasn't a whole lot behind Chris Camus and Paolo Pe. Camus was taken care of by Jarencio himself, benching him after Camus was slapped with a technical foul, and never reinserting him back into the game, either to rest a nagging injury, or as a disciplinary action. Pe then was dispatched in the third quarter, getting tagged with his fifth on an offensive foul. That opened things up for NU down low in the fourth.
• Playing with a whopping five players in sick bay, NU was able to get big contributions from seldom-used Robin Rono, some nice drives from Ajeet Singh, and hot shooting from Jeoffrey Javillonar and Cedrick Labing-isa. That's the sort of team play they'll need to move forward next season.

NU Negatives :

• NU's offense was still maddeningly inconsistent, as they scored just six points in the second quarter, all within the game's first six minutes. They got a whopping zero points from Parks in that period, as he and the rest of the team, settled for jumpers, instead of attacking the rim. 

UST Positives :

•  Kim Lo provided some hustle and bench spark, scoring seven, five points on seven free throw attempts, six boards, and three steals.

UST Negatives :

• UST actually won their season-opener versus this NU squad with very little production from Abdul, even before the big man fouled out in regulation. So why couldn't UST get going in this game? The Tigers lacked interior scoring to go with their perimeter game, getting a season-low 12 points in the paint on 6 of 14 attempts, both figures also season-lows. While they did not have Abdul for post moves, it also meant they got very little drives at the rim.
• Horrible games overall from players like Jeric Fortuna (eight points on 3 of 12 shooting, no free throws, one assist), Paolo Pe (three rebounds in 19 minutes), and Kevin Ferrer especially, as the rookie was unable to build off his big game versus FEU (1 point in 30 minutes, 0/8 from the field, three rebounds).

FEU 66 - DLSU 57
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Player of the Game : Aldrech Ramos was dominant as usual, posting 18 points in 28 minutes, on 5 of 8 shooting, 2 of 3 from downtown. The big guy also hauled down 11 rebounds, eight on the offensive end, and made two steals, while doing a good job frustrating some of La Salle's big men.

DLSU Positives :

• Simon Atkins was able to close his collegiate career gracefully, scoring 16 points on 50 percent shooting, along with three rebounds and three assists. 
• Joshua Webb gets a half-mention for his 11 points in 19 minutes, providing a nice spark in the second quarter that got DLSU rolling. Unfortunately, his rejected dunk to close out the game prevents us from fully mentioning him in the plus-column.

DLSU Negatives :

• Save for Atkins, the La Salle guards were absent, even with Ping Exciminiano leaving the game in the first quarter. LA Revilla, Almond Vosotros, Sam Marata, Jarelan Tampus and Luigi Dela Paz accounted for a whopping four points on 3 of 16 shooting, despite the fact that Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia aren't exactly what one would call, top-notch defenders.
• The rebounding game of the big men wasn't exactly hot stuff either. For a change, Jovet Mendoza and La Salle's other exiting player, Maui Villanueva, flashed back to last season and combined for 11 boards. Meanwhile the big men reinforcements La Salle was so happy to finally see action, Arnold Van Opstal, Papot Paredes and Norbert Torres, grabbed only seven boards. In all, DLSU had just 35 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end, compared to 51 boards by FEU, 32 in the second half, 21 on their side of the court.

FEU Positives :

• It was good to see the other big men of FEU step up, led by Russel Escoto's 11 boards. Mark Bringas also contributed eight caroms, while both sides accounted for four blocks. That's the kind of rebounding FEU will need moving forward without their foreign big men. 
• Terrence Romeo actually had a pretty good game, a few bouts of selfishness aside. After a 1 of 6 line in the first half, Romeo went 4 of 9 in the fourth, scoring 10 of his team's 18, and finishing with seven rebounds and four dimes.

FEU Negatives :

• The Tamaraws were outshot (45.2 percent to 30.8), outrebounded (21 to 18), and out-assisted (9 to 4) in the first half, with only an 8 of 11 clip at the foul line keeping them in the game, 33-27. Luckily, a halftime "motivational speech" seemed to clear things up for the squad, allowing them to take control in the second half.

UAAP Picking Record: 42-14