Interbasket

The 2008 Fil-Oil Tournament Finals were held Saturday, June 14, 2008, at an arena in San Juan between the San Beda College (SBC) Red Lions and the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors. It turned out to be a great game, as expected, and below were my observations and opinions about the game.

Game Proper
Both teams went into their Full-Court Press (FCP) right from the opening buzzer, but it was more of a “soft” kind of FCP meant more to eat up the shotclock and disrupt plays than to generate turnovers.

University of the East grabbed the lead at the end of the 1st quarter, 20-12 due to their superb outside shooting, while San Beda had trouble making their baskets.

UE switched their FCP defense from “soft” to “siamese-twin” in the 2nd half, maintaining and even slightly increasing their lead, but the Lions were able to keep the UE lead below double digits, 34-28 at the end of the 1st half.

UE maintained their lead for most of the 3rd quarter, until a late rally at the end of the quarter pushed the Red Lions ahead, 50-47. The momentum was with SBC early in the 4th quarter, until UE started hitting their outside shots again, eventually leading their victory.

San Beda Individual Performances
Borgie Hermida (5′9″, PG) kept the Lions in the game in the 1st 2 quarters with his daredevil drives.

Sam Ekwe (6′8″, C) asserted himself offensively in the paint late in the 3rd quarter, grabbing rebounds on both ends of the floor and scoring off post plays. Defensively, Sam was in his element as he had what I counted was 3 shot blocks in the first quarter. I think he eventually ended up with around 6 shot blocks in the game.

Bam Gamalinda (6′3″, SF/PF) complemented nicely Ekwe’s inside game with his outside shots in the 2nd half.

Aside from those 2 guys, though, the others, like Garvo Lanete (6′0″, SG), Dave Marcelo (6;4″, C), Jake Pascual (6′4″, PF), Taupa (6′4″, PF), etc. weren’t providing enough support on offense. The most notable absence was Ogie Menor, who wasn’t as assertive in the game. I wonder why, especially after such a superb season last year. I hope he gets his groove back in the regular season, the team certainly needs his production.

University of the East Individual Performances
Though a bit small, James Martinez (5′9″, PG) was awesome in the 1st half with his outside shots. Uses the screens well, quick release jumper, and accurate. His percentages went down in the 2nd half when the law of averages caught up with him, but still managed to sneak in a 3-point shot in the critical 4th quarter.

Hans Thiele (6′5″, C) was brilliant all game long. His range is more of around 15 feet or so, but once he gets off that jumpshot from that area, he is deadly accurate. What’s more is that he manages to vary his offense by occassionally scoring in the paint off passing plays, too.

The man of the hour, though, is Paul Lee (6′0″, SG). I looked at his past performances in this tournament, and he managed to hit double figures most of the time. He plays big in important games, like during the finals of the last season where he hit some critical shots. No doubt that he will be a King Warrior soon for this team.

In this game, though, he got incredibly lucky, hitting 6 outside shots in a row, 5 of them from the 3-point line, 1 from the perimeter. When somebody shoots like that without missing in the 4th quarter, what can you do? Anyway, superb, lucky shooting night for him.

Sources and Links: Philippines Basketball Forum