- With Garvo Lanete out the entire PCCL with a shoulder injury, it's been Rome Dela Rosa taking charge of the scoring, show a preview of the next NCAA season. He closed out his team's four-game stint with a 21 point, seven rebound performance, contributing to his strong tournament averages: 34.25 minutes, 18.25 points on 55.36 percent shooting, 4.75 rebounds, 3.25 assists, 0.5 steals and just 0.75 turnovers. While odds are he won't ever have to log that much playing time come Season 88, but it will be much easier for him to score, with Ola Adeogun attracting so much attention and Julius Armon helping to get him the ball.
- San Beda head coach Frankie Lim calls it "San Beda basketball," and what that is is run and gun, up and down the court fast attack. In their losses to Ateneo and San Sebastian, the Red Lions normed just 7.5 fastbreak points and 12.5 turnover points. It's the complete opposite of how they thrashed University of Cebu. The Webmasters conceded 21.5 fastbreak points and 22.5 turnover points in their two losses to the NCAA champs, providing rival coaches plenty of "What not to do" footage for next year.
- We finally got a glimpse of the Junemar Fajardo that was the subject of so much hype. Not the gimpy, injury struck version that played versus Ateneo, but the real deal. Fajardo went off for 24 points and 24 rebounds, while blocking three shots and looking dominant the whole afternoon. Sadly, his efforts were for naught as he was unable to get support from his teammates.
Three Down
- After getting a game-best 25 points, aided by 7 of 12 outside shooting versus San Sebastian, Edward Pao registered no points in this game, missing all six of his shots, five coming from downtown. What made it so head-scratching was the fact that despite his inability to connect from anywhere on the field, Pao still played 39 minutes, and it's not as if his defense was solid (see what Rome Dela Rosa put up, above).
- The number one thing for UC head coach Roel Gomez to work on when they get back to Cebu? Getting back on defense in transition. The Webmasters were scorched by the running game of the Manila teams, giving up on average, 20.75 fastbreak points and 19.25 turnover points (off an average of 15.75 turnovers). With Fajardo graduating, that means they'll have an even harder time getting offensive rebounds, which means more opportunities for teams to run on them.
- Maybe I just overestimate Dave Marcelo, but with the lack of minutes, I would have expected him to get a ton more touches in the low post. Instead, the NCAA Finals MVP managed just 25.25 minutes, 5.5 points on 37.5 percent shooting, though he did norm three assists per game. Defensively, he was solid: 6.75 rebounds, 2.75 blocks, but being the smallest center of the four teams clearly prevented him from establishing himself down low.
Random Notes
This is the best finish for the Red Lions in the history of the PCCL.(They made the Finals versus UE in 2006) History has not been kind to San Beda in the tournament, as injuries and graduation have often hit them the hardest, preventing them from flashing the depth that makes them so potent in the NCAA. Last season they were upset by La Salle in the Elite Eight, playing without their main point guard Borgie Hermida.- UC held constant at fourth place, which is where they finished last year. They were dropped by Ateneo in the Final Four as well, and then lost to La Salle in the battle for third.
PCCL 2011: Third Place - SBC vs UC
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