- JRU knew exactly what to do on defense, sending guys sprinting back down the court after made shots, while keeping an eye out to intercept any outlet errant outlet passes. It didn't always work, NU still got 13 transition attempts and 14 transition points, but in comparison to the Bulldogs' first three games, it was enough for the Bombers to get the win.
- The big men of JRU also did a good job on Emmanuel Mbe for most of the game. In the first half, the Cameroonian center was held to just 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block on a team-high 14 minutes of play and had accumulated 2 personal fouls. Mbe would explode in the third quarter for 4 minutes, before foul trouble sat him down again, but in the final period, he had just 2 points in 8 minutes.
- Balanced scoring on the part of JRU meant they were difficult for NU to stop. Though only John Lopez finished with double-digit points, 10, the fourth placers in the NCAA then had two players with eight points each, four players with seven, and then one with six.
Three Down
- NU had gotten back to back easy drives into the lane by Jeoffrey Javillonar to cut NU's lead down to 63-62, but after Nate Matute's split at the line made it a two-point game, the Bulldogs coaching staff made the curious move of subbing in Reden Celda, who had not played at all in the fourth quarter up to that point, and letting him attempt the game-tying layup. Celda's move wound up being short, and JRU was able to win. Perhaps they were going for the element of surprise there, but Celda was coming in ice cold, while Javillonar had already scored 8 in the period. It just strikes me as an odd move, though had it gone in, it would have obviously been a huge deal.
- Talk about your bad shooting days. JRU's star rookie John Villarias was a miserable 3 of 15 from the field for 8 points. It wasn't as if he were shut down too, Villarias simply missed a lot of shots he normally makes.
- Alex Almario played a game-high 38 minutes, the only player in fact, to log more than 30. Think it affected his play? Almario played the entire fourth quarter and had nothing to show for it, zeroes in every stat, except for turnovers, where he had two.
Random Notes
- This up-tempo NU squad played a lot better than the half-court oriented team we saw in the UAAP (they were ranked 6th in the league in fastbreak attempts and points), but unfortunately, they didn't survive long enough for us to see them try to integrate Bobby Ray Parks in the mix.
- There's a rumor that these players, plus Parks, will form the core of the NU team next season, meaning Joseph Terso, Spencer Eman, Jul-Ashri Ignacio, Robby Celiz, and Marion Magat are all off Team A. That's certainly more believable than the similar rumor that had every NU player on a D-League roster being off the team.
- JRU's Ralph Monserrat was productive in the time he spent on the floor, though he did accumulate four fouls in 16 minutes. With John Montemayor graduating, Monserrat will likely see an uptick in minutes next year. He'll need to bulk up though, because he lacks a lot of heft compared to Montemayor.
PCCL 2011 - NU vs JRU
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