PCCL 2011 - UC vs ADMU

Three Up

• Ateneo's offense was simply astounding, hitting 100 despite not having their starting point guard to run the show. The Eagles shot 59.7 percent from the field, making 40 of 67 shots, while scoring 27 on the break (on 14 attempts) and 20 off 16 University of Cebu errors. They also made it a habit to attack the rim, getting 20 free throws and canning 15, a huge step up from the 3 of 5 line the Webmasters posted. When Ateneo's posting those kind of numbers, they're damn near impossible to stop, with or without a 6'10" big man. 
• Greg Slaughter heard all about the comparisons to Fajardo, and how some have Fajardo as the superior CESAFI-born big man, so the 7-footer decided to put his offensive arsenal on display, scoring 18 points in 21 minutes on a variety of hooks, jumpers, and post up moves. More importantly, with the big man in a groove early (seven points, four rebounds, in eight first quarter minutes) the rest of the Blue Eagles quickly fell in line, resulting in the first quarter storm they pulled off.
• Remember when people used to fear that Kiefer Ravena could not make the transition to point guard? The Phenom dished out eight assists while assuming the one-spot with Emman Monfort balling for NLEX, while still scoring 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Ateneo's wings did a good job of moving the ball around as well with Tonino Gonzaga finishing with 10 points and seven dimes, and Kirk Long tallying seven markers and five assists. All in all, Ateneo had 28 assists, more than doubling UC's 12. 

Three Down

• If you went into this game jazzed about Junemar Fajardo and Slaughter going at it like Godzilla versus King Kong, then you probably went home disappointed. Thanks to his knee injury, Fajardo played just 14 minutes off the bench, though he had 12 points and nine rebounds in that span. "The Kraken" had no lift though, failing to create any offense and relying heavily on his teammates to find him when he was open, and even then he still was off on some of his shots. Without a good performance from Fajardo, the Webmasters will be hard-pressed to win games.
• UC's starting five produced a measly 14 points, eight from Brian Heruela and six from Edward Pao. That's a big step down considering each scored 14 versus SWU in the game for the Southern Islands championship. 
• The confident Juami Tiongson we saw in game two of the UAAP Finals was nowhere to be found in this game. Given major minutes and the chance to strut his stuff, Tiongson looked lost at times, and couldn't get the offense going, which is why the Eagles stumbled out of the gates in the second quarter. 

Random Notes

• In reference to this tweet by Charles Tiu...did you know that 7 feet = 2.13 meters?   
• Ateneo needed Fajardo to get his fourth foul at the beginning of the fourth quarter to go from a 50-43 end of the third quarter lead to a 74-54 final score last year in the PCCL. This time, the blowout came early. 

PCCL 2011: UC vs ADMU