Interbasket

The collegiate preseason tournament competitions are heating up near the end of the eliminations, and have finally started to schedule games during the weekends in the afternoons in alternate venues. I again was able to catch the game between the Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) Blue Eagles and the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) Cardinals over at the 2008 NSL at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum (Sunday, June 8,2008). Below are a recap of the game, as well as some of my personal observations about the players and the teams.

The Game Proper
The game was close the first two quarters. I think mainly because Chris Tiu (6′0″, SG) did not play for the Blue Eagles, and that ADMU Coach Norman Black took time to give his rookies a lot of playing time.

Mapua kept the game close in the end game through the efforts of guys like Neil Pascual and Kevin Dela Pena, but veterans like Nonoy Baclao and Rabeh Al-Husseini delivered at the clutch to seal the win by ADMU.

The ADMU Blue Eagles
Nonoy Baclao (6′5″, PF) had a monster game, grabbing rebounds and almost scoring at will against the shorter and/or less athletic Mapua frontline. Rabeh Al-Husseini (6′8″, C) delivered crucial points at crunch time while Eric Salamat (approx. 5′10″, SG) filled in on offense for Chris Tiu.

Justin Chua (6′6″, C) had a terrible game despite getting major minutes. He was missing shots, wasn’t grabbing a lot of rebounds, basically just getting manhandled by Mapua’s veteran frontline despite his advantage in height and heft. Just when we thought why Coach Norman didn’t give him a lot of playing time in their previous day’s game against the Green Archers, he shows us why. Clearly Justin will take some time to get his game going in college.

Nico Salva (6′2″, F) also had good playing time, but in the first half I saw him get blocked at least 3 times by Mapua’s defense on his drives to the basket. He was able to come back and score some points in the 2nd half off some drives, but again another rookie struggling in college. As expected, more or less.

Miserable game also for Kirk Long (approx. 6′1″, G), got stolen off twice and causing an unforced error in the end game when Mapua went into its full court press. I’ve never really been a big fan of Kirk, about the only good thing I see in his game are those daredevil, off balanced shot he makes every now and then on his drives to the basket. He is a tall Point-Guard, but his ballhandling is suspect (as can be seen above), and so is his outside shooting. He’s also just an average passer. After a season with the Eagles, he is still struggling to find his place with the team, and one wonders if he will ever find it there.

The MIT Cardinals
I came out of this game having a healthy respect for Kevin De La Pena’s (6′2″, G) defensive skills. KDLP is tall, has a muscled, medium build, and good quickness. He simply was all over the Eagle’s star rookie Ryan Buenafe on defense, so much so that Ryan was only able to score a lone 3-point shot off him. Ryan couldn’t drive well w/ KDLP bodying up on him, and was only able to get the bulk of his points after KDLP got sidelined in the 2nd quarter, courtesy of Nonoy Baclao’s elbow which caused a nasty mouse under KDLP’s right eye. That defense, along with a little bit more offense, could be one thing KDLP could bring with him to the PBA, if and when he gets drafted later.

Neil Pascual (6′2″, PF) is short Power Forward. He is stocky, but his best asset is his work ethic, always following up his outside shots for a possible rebound. He did have a decent outside shot, and good drive in moves as well. In the end, though, his lack of size wasn’t able to stop ADMU’s taller frontline from scoring at will when needed.

One reason I watched this game because I wanted to see MIT’s rookie Allen Mangahas (approx. 5′10″, G) play since he had been playing well lately. Kinda lean, his best asset is probably his outside shot. He wasn’t a factor most of the game, but was able to drain 2 3-point shots in the end game to help Mapua keep a close game with the Eagles.

Sources and links: Interbasket Philippine Basketball Message Board (Ibn Forums)