Ball Points (10-6-09)

• The Junior Archers have extended their finals series as they defeated the Eaglets 57-53. They finished the game on a 14-2 run including 4 clucth FTs to seal the deal. Kiefer Ravena was held scoreless in the 1st half and was able to finish the game with only 6 points. It was Ael Banal(19 points) who carried team in the 1st half with his outside snipping but he couldn't carry the team to the finish line. ADMU looked poised to win the championship today as they led by 8 in the 4th quarter but the guys from Ayala Alabang just took their games a notch higher and clawed their way back with their hustle and aggressiveness. Gywne Capacio came back with a better performance with 19 points but he has to settle down a little bit. He's got to be smarter when to attack or not because ADMU's defense is ready for him. DLSZ will have to establish their running game come Game 3 to utilize the talent of their players like Dela Paz. The Junior Archers have to attack quicker to prevent ADMU to set up their tight defense.
  
• The Adamson Lady Falcons have swept the no. 1 seeded FEU Lady Tamaraws in their finals series with a 64-50 victory earlier today. Another disappointmet for Anton Montinola and the rest of FEU. Analyn Almazan was awarded the Finals MVP as she averaged 16.5 points and 16 rebounds in the finals. A key part of the ADU team is another of the Mangahas siblings, Katherine Mangahas. Man, how many Mangahases are we going to see in collegiate basketball?
• Guess what, we have another national team, the RP Patriots! Don't worry this team will not be joining in the controversy between the SBP and PBA and this team will coached by a Filipino, Louie Alas. This team will be representing us in the recently formed ABL. Think of ABL as the Euroleague of SE Asia. Yes, Southeast Asia so we can expect to dominate this league. All teams will also be allowed up to 2 imports and I believe Mikee Romero (co-owner of Patriots) is considering Sam Ekwe as our import. Some notables on the team are former UST hotshot Khasim Mirza, former PBA player Rob Wainwright, former DLSU player Gerwin Gaco (no he is not a star Manila Bulletin but he's a good player nonetheless) and former Letran player Dino Daa.
  

Ball Points (10-3-09)

• As expected the UAAP-NCAA All-Stars will not be featuring the best players from both leagues on Monday' charity event dubbed as "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi Nyo". The team will be composed of Joshua Webb (DLSU), Jan Colina (ADU), Jewel Ponferrada (NU), Jeric Fortuna (UST), Paul Sanga (FEU), Reil Cervantes (FEU), Woody Co (UP), Macky Acosta (MIT), Allan Mangahas (MIT), Mark Sarangay (MIT), TG Guillermo (MIT), Marc de Guzman (CSB), Gelo Montecastro (CSB), MC Abolucion (CSB) and Jan Tan (CSB). Players from UE and ADMU will not take part in the event as they are currently gutting it out in the UAAP Finals. (The UAAP Finals will be done by that time if ADMU wins the game tomorrow.) Players like Ababou and Aldrech Ramos will also not be part of the team as they are part of the 2nd game of the event with Smart-Gilas squaring off with Powerade. Players from JRU, SBC, SSC-R and CSJL were also excluded in the lineup to give them time to prepare for their remaining elimination games and the Final 4. Then players from EAC, AU, UPHSD and AUF will also not take part in the event as they have games scheduled on the same day. That means no Argel Mendoza, no Gio Ciriacruz and no Matt Carney. So who's left for the NCAA? MIT and CSB. It's a good thing that both teams even lent their players despite being in a slugfest for the 6th seed in the NCAA that will give them a chance to play in the PCCL. Knowing that they can only get players from two teams, the NCAA should have allowed the UAAP to field more players to make the game a little bit more interesting. No Kokoy Hermosisima? No Khasim Mirza? Montercastro over Jeric Teng? Jan Tan over Chris Camus? And where the hell is Edwin Cornejo? I know it's just a charity game but the 2 leagues should made the necessary adjustments to make to field a much more competitive team. Joshua Webb will look like Dwayde Wade with this team. I don't know who the LP and PBL will field but I can already see a blowout.
  
• As first seen on patayangbutiki.com and firequinito.com, Chris Tiu's brother Charles tweeted about an incident in a scrimmage between TNT and Smart-Gilas. Apparently, CJ Giles threw an elbow at Ranidel de Ocampo which then caused the TNT players to gank up on the Smart-Gilas import. Ranidel has been known to get under the skin of some of his opponents like Hamed Haddadi in the past so no surprises here. Maybe these large-headed professionals couldn't take the fact that a couple of kids and an american were blowing them out as Charles Tiu said or maybe Giles couldn't take the physical nature of Pinoy basketball as firequinito said. I guess Monday's charity event won't be just a charity after all. Maybe Yeng can add Mac Cardona to the team just to make things more interesting.
• The NBA has now expanded the use of instant replay starting this season. The NBA will now allow officials to use instant replay to check if a shot or a foul occurred before a 24 second violation. The NBA refs can also use the said technology to determine who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds if the game is already under 2 minutes. These changes might slow the game proceeding a little bit but I'll take that delay to allow the refs to call the games much more accurately.
• Just like their seniors' counterparts, the ADMU Eaglets are one win away from a championship as they upset the no. 1 seeded DLSZ Junior Archers 80-73. As expected, Kiefer Ravena led the Loyola -based squad with 33 markers, 9 boards, 4 dishes, 3 steals and 3 shot blocks. ADMU will be nowhere near the finals w/o this kid. This guy is indeed impressive with natural ability to score and basketball IQ. What also makes this kid standout is his calmness and smoothness on the court. This kid will just destroy the opposing team's defensive with his swagger while operating with the basketball. He's still in his 3rd year so he'll still be around with the Eaglets next year and we'll all have to wait one more year to see him in Eagles' uniform. Al Bugarin and Von Pesummal also provided quality minutes for the Eaglets. Nico Elorde also caught my attention with his toughness and aggressiveness but guarding Kiefer all game long will take a definitely take a toll on your game. Louis Fortuna also looks good with his shooting, basketball IQ and energy much like his older brother, Jeric Fortuna. Luigi Dela Paz and Gweynne Capacio (who looks more like Mark Andaya rather than his father Glen Capacio) were both out of their elements as they were frustrated all game long of the incredible defense the Eaglets threw at them. This game was exciting all throughout and even terrible commentary (I know its just a juniors' game but why would put Sid Ventura and Eric Tipan together. They're already bad individually so what do you expect if you put them together?) will not prevent me from watching Game 2 on Tuesday.