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FRANZ
Pumaren is cooking up something that De La Salle might
need to level the series against Ateneo in the
University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP)
men’s basketball finals.
However,
the multititled mentor refused to divulge the surprise
brew his team is preparing. The Green Archers must win
Game Two on Thursday to send the series to a
winner-take-all Game Three.
“Secret
muna. I can’t tell it to you right now. For sure,
we will do something different in Game Two,” Pumaren
told the BusinessMirror before team practice on Tuesday.
 The
Blue Eagles won Game One, 69-61. Despite the setback,
Pumaren is confident his team can come back, but
adjustments have to be done.
“We have
to do better in our execution. We had lots of mental
mistakes in Game One, both offensively and defensively,”
Pumaren explained.
The
Green Archers failed to capitalize on the 20 turnovers
committed by Ateneo in the series opener.
Ateneo
was only plus-three in rebounds, 41-38, and the Archers
allowed rookie guard Ryan Buenafe to grab 11 boards,
majority in the first half when the Blue Eagles seized
control of the game.
De La
Salle’s stars, JV Casio and Rico Maierhofer, were the
only players in double figures with 20 and 17,
respectively, but Final Four hero James Mangahas was a
nonfactor in Game One.
“Those
two early fouls called against him [Mangahas] were
really crucial. He was suddenly off with his timing. His
second foul was questionable for me,” said Pumaren. “Nasira
na ’yung flow ng laro niya.”
Mangahas,
who scored 20 in their 67-62 victory over Far Eastern
University in the semifinals, was held to just five
points in just 17 minutes of action.
Ateneo’s
star Chris Tiu was also slowed down by foul trouble in
that game and finished with only two points. But,
luckily for coach Norman Black, Most Valuable Player top
candidate Rabeh Al-Hussaini played the game of his life
and towed the Blue Eagles to the victory.
The
six-foot-seven Al-Hussaini, half-brother of former De La
Salle player Carlo Sharma, fired a game-high 31 points
on 14-of-26 shooting from the field. He played all but
four minutes of Game One.
And Al-Hussaini
must be in the game plan of Pumaren in Game Two,
although he still refused to reveal what they will do to
the Ateneo center.
“We’ll
be preparing something different on Thursday, that’s for
sure,” said Pumaren, owner of five titles in the UAAP.
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