ADMU vs ADU (Round 1)

After being eliminated by Adamson in the Fil-Oil Preseason tournament, we finally redeemed ourselves. With their new head coach Leo Austria (my teammate Bacon's father), Adamson has improved drastically despite their very young line-up. They have mastered their half-court execution and have tightened up their defense as well. With this in mind, we made sure that we will not take this team for granted. I believe that we were able to execute Coach Norman's game plan both on the offensive and defensive end. I wish i can talk about it but the season is still far from over and we will still be meeting them in the 2nd round so i'll have to save it 'til then. Overall, we had a rusty start caused by a number of turnovers and missed shots (very make-able shots at that). They stayed close because of their defense and 2nd chance points. But towards the end our shots started falling and our defense held up. We played a lot of 2-3 zone in the 2nd half and they weren't able to adjust partly because of their lack of consistent outside shooters, except for Gonzalgo.

I personally didn't like my game because i missed a lot of easy outside shots and i wasn't able to create enough for my teammates. I ended the first half with 2 points and two missed free throws as well! I was really disappointed at half time but i continued to stay positive and aggressive. Luckily, shots started falling in the 2nd half. Thankfully, the other guys stepped up today. Jai was steady organizing the offense with limited turnovers (maybe none). Eric and Ryan helped in the scoring. But more importantly, they drove and created for the big guys. Jobe was also a force underneath grabbing 12 rebounds. I love his baseline turnaround jumper. Nonoy as usual was very steady on the defensive end, blocking and changing shots. He also showed his ability to score on the offensive end. Surprisingly Nonoy was not in foul trouble this time around. It was Galinato from Adamson who got 2 extremely early fouls that forced him to the bench - I'm not so sure about the 2nd cheap touch foul though but i'll take it. Thanks Nabro! Nico Salva had his breakout game today with 3 of his favorite up and under stabs.

Before the game, the referees gave Jobe a warning to play honest clean defense as a result of his scuffle with Maeirhoffer in the previous game. (Maeirhoffer was given a warning too) Today Jobe was slapped with an intentional foul and after watching the replay again and again in slow motion, there was really nothing. Jobe also confided to me "hindi ko siya tinira". That call was merely an anticipated call. Referees often have that tendency to anticipate a call because it is already imprinted in their consciousness. I personally believe that it is unfair to call a flagrant foul on a player just because he is reputed to be a "bad boy" when in fact a clean foul was given. They should just call it as they see it with no biases!

I want to thank the Lord for the victory today, which I think made my mom's birthday really special! Of course we capped it off with a nice family dinner at this Japanese restaurant called Kikufuji at Pasong Tamo. Anyway, sunday is only two days away and it's important for us to stay fresh especially against a pressing UE team. This will be a good test of our character. I'm sure UE will want to get back at us after beating them in the NSL Championship.

I hope to see Rabeh smiling after that game :)

Oh, and I'd like to thank the Ateneo Sports Shooters for the photos @ www.fabilioh.com

Chris