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Championship experience' gives Excelroof the edge
by Jonas Terrado (March 27, 2010)
It seems that chasing championships in
a short amount of time isn't tiring for many sports
personalities, particularly coach Ato Agustin.
Can't blame the coach, especially having
another opportunity to win a third crown in a span of
six months, this time in a much tougher competition
that is the Philippine Basketball League.
"Masayang masaya ako at nasa finals
ulit," said Agustin, who was obviously in joyous
mood after the Excelroof 25ers defeated Cobra Energy
Drink, 81-75, in their do-or-die semifinals last Tuesday
at the San Juan Gym.
The 25ers worked doubly hard to gain that
finals berth. Despite a 5-2 record, they failed to gain
the No. 2 spot after losing the tiebreaker against the
Ironmen, who scored a stunning 66-65 loss in their lone
elimination round encounter last March 4.
But Excelroof outmatched the fancied Cobra
cagers in the Final Four. First, it hacked out a tough
89-81 victory last Saturday then had to made up for
several lost leads in the second half in their 'KO'
match to complete the comeback win.
Now, Agustin and his wards enter the best-of-three
title series against the top-seed Pharex B-Complex,
a team that is coming off a five-day rest after making
short work of Cossack Blue in the other semifinal pairing.
The Fighting Maroons, behind the surprising
Vic Manuel and Marlon Adolfo, eliminated the Spirits,
96-83, last Saturday.
Despite having no rest at all, Excelroof
has the edge in terms of winning championships. The
25ers are a team composed mostly of cagers from the
San Sebastian Stags.
What did the Stags did in just six months?
The then-inexperienced squad shock everyone by sweeping
deposed three-time champion San Beda in the NCAA finals
before easily won the week-long CHED National Games
held last month in Manila.
Despite that edge, Agustin sees a different
scenario this time around.
"Although we have the championship
experience, iba pa din yung collegiate sa PBL eh kasi
different players na dito but we do hope na magawa namin
yung gameplan sa finals," said Agustin.
In beating Cobra, a team composed of some
of the best players in the collegiate ranks but admits
to having a hard-time developing its cohesion, Jimbo
Aquino, Pamboy Raymundo and Ian Sangalang provided the
big contributions.
After struggling for most of the tournament,
Aquino proved that he can also be deadly in the games
that mattered the most, averaging 20 points per game.
But despite a 33-percent shooting, the NCAA Finals Most
Valuable Player was always a threat in the fourth quarter.
Raymundo was perhaps the unsung hero of
the Final Four. In registering 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds
6.5 assists, the 5-foot-10 ballhandler made key shots
in the fourth quarter of the first semis game finishing
with 16 points then delivering timely assists in the
second half of the knockout match.
His performance made it tough for the
Ironmen to neutralize him despite having Jai Reyes,
Allan Mangahas and Edwin Torres on their roster.
Only 18 years old, the lanky Sangalang
played good defense against Cobra's rugged Pari Llagas
and scored easy putbacks and key baskets off Raymundo
passes.
And of course, can't forget the hardworking
Calvin Abueva. He was the hero of the do-or-die duel
with 18 points and 13 rebounds in just 18 minutes off
the bench.
In the first three quarters, the 21-year
old standout did his signature hustle plays before coming
through with 13 points in the payoff period, including
a gutsy drive off Marvin Hayes that extended the lead
to three points, 78-75, with 41 seconds to play before
coming out with a big block on Reyes' three-point attempt
on the next play.
"I'm happy na nacontrol ni Calvin
yung sarili niya at talagang everytime nasa court siya
nafefeel mo talaga yung intensity niya," Agustin
said of Abueva.
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