NU may bench Youth skipper Alejandro this UAAP season

MANILA, Philippines—After the National University (NU) Bulldogs’ blowout 99-48 victory against the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers  on Monday, Bulldogs head coach Eric Altamirano disclosed that Energen Pilipinas Under-16 national team captain Rodolfo “J-Jay” Alejandro III would not suit up for the team for UAAP Season 75.
“Well, right now, we’re not planning to put him (Alejandro) in the lineup yet for (the upcoming UAAP season),” Altamirano said. “Bata pa s’ya (He’s still young), so we try to give him time to mature first, and hopefully next year, he’ll be part of the team.”

NU secured a commitment from the 6-foot guard Alejandro last February. He led the Malayan High School Red Robins last year to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA juniors division while averaging league-best 25.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals.

He was named as the team captain of the Energen Pilipinas Under-16 team, which finished fourth in the 2011 FIBA Asia Under-16 Championships in Nha Trang, Vietnam, last October, where he once scored 34 against Japan in the second round of the tournament.

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Before the Start of PBA Commissioner Cup Quarterfinals

As the PBA Commissioner’s Cup had closely come to a finish, many teams and players have yet again proven that they are the best of the best in PBA, while others had shocked fans in their stunts in winning their piece of the cup.

Rain or Shine Shining through B-Meg Lefty marksman Jeff Chan shot 10 of his 19 points in the final quarter as Rain or Shine stunned B-Meg, 101-95, Wednesday night in the 37th PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The win kept the Elasto Painters’ quarterfinal bid alive.

According to latest PBA News, import Duke Crews had 24 points but had 20 cracks and only made nine. Crews also grabbed 16 rebounds. Rain or Shine bucked a 38-point explosion from the Llamados’ reinforcement Denzel Bowles, who had 15 markers in the final quarter alone.

B-Meg, on the other hand, remained in second place at 5-3 but blew its opportunity to seize an outright semifinals berth.

Barako Bulls Whipping Petron Blaze As two of the most prominent teams in PBA, the battle between Barako Bulls and Petron Blaze had become a scorcher when the Barako Bulls bulled its way across the field and landed its win against Petron Blaze.

Rodney White fired 41 points and had 22 rebounds and Mick Pennisi stole the show with a classic comical act way before Barako Bull routed Petron Blaze, 94-80, which kept the Energy in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

White, who chalked up the season’s first triple double of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in an 89-82 victory over Meralco last Saturday, was virtually unstoppable as the Energy rose to 4-4, now tied for fifth overall.

New Petron import Will McDonald got tossed out of the court with 8:45 left in the second period after he threw the ball to the head of Pennisi, who did a good overacting job—although way delayed—of falling to the floor after the incident, eliciting laughter from both benches and the Smart Araneta Coliseum crowd.
Pennisi’s antic already trended on Twitter and was getting numerous hits on YouTube and more than that, even Barako Bull coach Junel Baculi said “the flop” helped his team, without taking credit away from his players who played their hearts out.

“I was surprised at how their (Petron) import acted, and we were lucky that he got thrown out,” Baculi told reporters. “It would have been a different story had he been around to finish the game.”

All-Star Game Top Bets Perennial MVP contender Arwind Santos of Petron Blaze and crack rookie JV Casio of Powerade are the early frontrunners for starting spots in the Veterans and Rookies, Sophomores, Juniors team for this year’s PBA All-Star Game.

According to UAAP News, fans have another week to select members of the Veterans and RSJ sides, which will be mentored by Chot Reyes of Talk ‘N Text and Powerade’s Bo Perasol, respectively. The Event is set May 10 to 13 in Laoag City.

Powerades run for the Commissioners Cup

Powerade is one of the most prominent teams of PBA to get into the finals of this season’s Commissioner’s Cup. This path, however, is not without any challenges, and that Powerade will still have to face its greatest challenges.

With their offense clicking, the Tigers pummeled the Air21 Express, 121-92, Sunday night, but somehow, things still aren’t as easy as it looks for Powerade. The team sits on third place at 4-3 with two games left in the elimination round.

Powerade’s Toughest Challenges Yet “Looking ahead, it’s really going to be down-the wire towards the last two games that we have, we have to win at least one, better if two,” said Powerade mentor Bo Perasol. Though it may seem easy, actually doing it and achieving their goal is not as easy as the Tigers perhaps have the hardest last two games among the remaining squads left vying for a playoff spot.

According to latest PBA News, some of the teams that Powerade will still have to face include the Alaska Aces in which the team will battle on Friday, as well as B-Meg, which is currently raring to bounce back after losing to Rain or Shine.

“For all the distractions, it was really difficult for us to focus but they still believe that we really have what it takes to win in this tournament,” Perasol said.

“So they just played together. I challenged them that the little things are going to matter in this game. I think they responded well to the challenge but there’s still so much difficulty ahead in those last two games,” added Perasol.

The Tigers played minus immense pressure last conference as the team went all the way to the Finals before losing to the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in five games. This time’s different, however, according to UAAP News. After that successful run, the expectation rose and now, perhaps anything short of a finals berth is a failure.

Pressure is Good for the Team For Perasol, pressure is a good thing. “I’m okay with pressure. Pressure is for the better. It’s a challenge for us to be better. We just have to do what we can with what we have,” Perasol said.

And what they have with scoring maching Gary David and prized rookies Marcio Lassiter and JV Casio are vital pieces not every team has.

“No question Gary David is the best scorer today if he wants to he can score but it all boils down again if are we going to win with those kinds of numbers. Is he going to share, which he did (tonight),” Perasol told INQUIRER.net.