4 takeaways from Wednesday's UAAP hoops action

MANILA, Philippines – The season can hardly be said to be brand new. We are midway through the first round. Teams are starting to separate themselves while others are surprisingly struggling. Here is what we can infer from Wednesday’s (September 26) games.

Ateneo is revving its engine as the bench is given much-needed playing time

Only seven players got to play more than 15 minutes each in the Blue Eagles’ 89-62 win over UE. And just as they did last season, they had another player leading them in Raffy Verano (who went down with an ankle sprain).

In a game where save for center Ange Kouame, they didn’t need Thirdy Ravena, Matt Nieto, and Anton Asistio to play long stretches and to even carry them team. Thirteen of the 16 players sent in scored. Fifteen notched either a point, rebound, assist, steal or block.

Ateneo got contributions from nine players in the first period, five in the second, eight in the third, and six in the final frame. Kouame topped Ateneo in scoring in the first. Verano took care of the second. Ravena was the man in the third, and Jolo Mendoza and Mike Nieto each scored six in the fourth. Scattering his points in the three quarters he played was William Navarro, who finally broke out of his slump to finish with 11 points, five boards, three assists and two blocks versus two turnovers.

Good win for the blue and white, which hiked its record to 3-1 and faces UST this weekend.

UE’s bigs need to stand tall

All their losses this year have been blowouts. UP (29 points), Adamson (14 points), DLSU (10 points) and now Ateneo (27 points).

In a perverse way for the first three games, you can infer that the loss margin was going down, then a huge shellacking by Ateneo.

For UE to make a good showing of itself, they need more than Alvin Pasaol to score and produce. They need more than Philip Manalang to do the same. Only Pasaol has not really struggled. And that isn’t what they want — to revert to a one-man team. They need others to step up especially the bigs — Will Bartolome, Rey Acuno, Shannen Gagate and Ric Gallardo.

Bartolome played well against Ateneo… scoring wise (12 points), but one rebound? Will needs to do more. And Rey Acuno, who played well in the pre-season, has really struggled. He didn’t score and only had one board and one assist. Ric Gallardo playing the four-spot didn’t fare well either.

The three combined for six points and 11 rebounds versus UP. Against Adamson, it was seven points and 10 boards. Against DLSU, the production was 12 points and 12 rebounds plus three assists.

When things go bad for this team, they look to score for themselves and not as a team. They simply have to trust the process. But even that is so difficult. They have been the sick man of the league for so long.

Adamson’s veterans led the way

Against a veteran team like UP, who are you going to call? Your own veterans, of course. Sean Manganti, Jerrick Ahanmisi, Papi Sarr, Jonathan Espeleta, Jerie Pingoy and Simon Camacho were all solid on a day when they young guns Vince Magbuhos, Jed Colonia, Egie Boy Mojica, and Jerom Lastimosa faltered.

The result was a scintillating buzzer-beating 69-68 win that does wonders for these literally Soaring Falcons.

Especially for Manganti, Pingoy and Espeleta.

Manganti was emotional during their last game against UST where he didn’t score at all. He was overly concerned about his father, Pete Manganti’s condition (Sean told me he could not walk). The graduating forward wrote “4Dad” on his kicks. But on that day, his team carried him. It was his turn now as he hit the stunning game winner after nearly turning the ball over.

It was great for Pingoy as well. The graduating playmaker has been overshadowed by the ascent of Lastimosa and even Colonia. Jerie played well in the game versus UST and now, even better against UP.

As for Espeleta, this was his second consecutive strong game. Against UST, there were still doubts in his own jump shots. You could see it in the form. Not this time.

Fighting Maroons are in a rut

At 1-3, UP has yet to play La Salle. NU and UST won’t be easy either. This is a much better team than they have had at any time in the last 15 years, so why are they struggling? They need more time to mesh with all their talent. Except they have three losses; make it three consecutive. For a team with title ambitions, this is a warning sign that all is not well. Of course, we have seen teams lose more games and still go on to win a championship (Ateneo in 2002 was 9-5 in the elims and 13-6 overall) is one.

Juan Gomez De Liaño has been phenomenal. And what a 1-2-3 punch that is in Juan, Bright Akhuetie and Paul Desiderio.