| 18 November 2002 We are half way through the NAABL season and the drama continues to build. The two undefeated teams, Maymar and the Raptors, almost got handed their first defeats of the season in Week 4. Almost. For the second week in a row Maymar seemed to play just good enough to win versus a spirited Sharks team that looked hungry for their first win. The Raptors held on for a victory in the last minute against a very tough Mavs team which actually held the lead for a good portion of the game. Those weren't the only near upsets of the day. The Lightning outplayed and outscored the Wolfpack for the first 10 minutes of the game but they couldn't maintain that level of play for the duration as the Wolfpacks long bomb offense got hot quick. If it wasn't for hard-nosed man-to-man defense in the second half, Team VA could have kissed their playoff hopes good-bye as they struggled early against a revitalized Dope Squad which held a 9 pt lead at half. Congratulations to all the winners in Week 4. Better luck next time to all the losers. Don't sleep yall. The playoffs are right around the corner and 6 teams are still in contention for the championship. Even though the Sharks and Lightning are pretty much out of contention they still have opportunities to spoil someone else's season. And that can be pretty fun too. Be sure to make it out to the games this Sunday. All the games have severe playoff repercussions and the much improved Sharks and Lightning will battle it out for one of the team's first win of the season More importantly than anything else, the NAABL offers its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Ceasar Burdios. Ceasar was an important part of Filipino American basketball in Virginia and a friendly and familiar face at the Fil-Am tournaments. He will be sorely missed by those that knew him and he will always be remembered. Ferd Dimaiwat League Director |
| 2002 archives 5 |
| GAME 1: Mavericks Raptors |
| The Week 4 schedule had potential for a bunch of blowouts but instead all 4 of the favored teams received big scares from the underdog. That is what the NAABL is all about. Competitiveness. You gotta earn your victories here. Teams that did well or needed to comeback from early deficits utilized man-to-man defense. Most of the teams in the league sit around in a zone and let the offense get their game on. If you play a zone you gotta stay active. But if that isn't happening, there is nothing like man-to-man pressure to light a fire under your players butts. It holds them more accountable for defensive miscues. It also throws off teams in this league because most are used to dribbling the ball up court with ease against a zone. And teams running offense against a man-to-man need to learn how to move WITHOUT the ball. All the teams are steadily improving as the end of the regular season slowly approaches. Going into Week 5 anything can happen and it probably will. So players get your game faces on. |
| GAME LEADERS Mavericks (2-2) Points: 14-Anthony Gaviola, 3-Pts: 1- Dennis Bruber, Dave Mateo FTs: 1/2 (50.0%)- KV Vito-Cruz Raptors (4-0) Points: 24- Calvin Morris, Mel Wright 3-Pts: 4- Calvin Morris, Mel Wright FTs: 4/5 (80.0%)- Mel Wright |
| The NAABL version of Jordan and Pippen needed their A-game to fight off their first defeat of the season from a dangerous Mavs squad. The duo combined for 48 of the Raptors 61 pts (24 pts a piece). They also drained 4 threes apiece. And hit 4 FTs apiece (Mel 4/5, Calvin 4/9). And they desperately needed every one of those points. The Mavericks played tough ball with big boys Anthony Gaviola (14 pts) and Joe Burgess (12 pts) taking up the paint and making it tough for the Raptors to penetrate effectively. They held a 5 point lead at the half but the Raps stopped playing lazy and went to man-to-man pressure which seemed to fluster the Mavs. It didn't help the Mavs cause that Joe and Anthony fouled out in the second half. But the Mavs actually tied the game up with less than a minute left because of careless shooting by the Raps when they didn't even have to shoot the ball. But clutch foul shooting by Mel (4 FTs in the last minute) iced the game for them. |
| GAME 2: Lightning Wolfpack |
| GAME LEADERS Lightning (0-4) Points: 15- Terry Eusebio 3-Pts: 2- Jeff Egnot FTs: 1/1 (100%)- Terry Eusebio Wolfpack (3-1) Points: 15- Ron Gozum 3-Pts: 4- Ron Gozum FTs: 2/2 (100%)- Jun Madera |
| The Wolfpack survived a first half Lightning attack to improve their record to 3-1. The Lightning started the game out with more energy than the Wolfpack taking a decent lead early in the game and maintaining the lead for some time until Ron Gozum (15 pts, 4 threes for the game) hit a couple of threes to put things back into perspective. The Lightning were still within striking distance at the half trailing only by 6. But the Wolfpack got their act together with Jun Madera (14 pts) pacing the attack with 8 pts in the second half and Joe Flores's getting it done down low also with 8 pts (14 for the game). Terry Eusebio did what he could to keep the Lightning in the game (15 pts) but the Wolfpack damage had already been done. Lightning's Jeff Egnot chipped in 12 pts with 2 threes. |
| GAME 3: Sharks Maymar |
| GAME LEADERS Sharks (0-4) Points: 14- Lee Harrelson 3-Pts: 2- Manuel Wilson FTs: 3/4 (75%)- Lee Harrelson Maymar (4-0) Points: 12- Cocoy Marasigan 3-Pts: 1- Grice, Santiaguel, Trinidad FTs: 3/4 (75%)- J. Trinidad |
| Undefeated Maymar seemed to underestimate the winless Sharks but pulled out the victory anyway. Maymar struggled early in the game, misfiring on several three point attempts, although they managed to take a 8 pt lead into half time. Cocoy Marasigan did what he could to shake off Maymar's slow start (12 pts) but the Sharks were within reach of the lead for most of the second half. They even outscored Maymar 28-26 in the second half, thanks to Lee Harrelson's 9 second half points (14 pts, 3/4 FTs, 1 three for the game) and a couple of big threes from Manuel Wilson (10 pts, 2 threes for the game). But Maymar kept their composure and managed to settle down a bit to hold on to the win. Maymar did manage to distribute the ball well with 9 players managing to score. |
| GAME 4: Dope Squad Team VA |
| GAME LEADERS Dope Squad (1-3) Points: 14- Emmanuel Arcena 3-Pts: 2- Emmanuel Arcena FTs: Team VA (2-2) Points: 15- Ryan Driggers, Kevin Ladia 3-Pts: FTs: 5/7 (71.4%)- Kevin Ladia |
| Team VA seems to play their opponents when the other team is at their best but they showed heart and determination against an invigorated Dope Squad. Dope Squad looked excellent in the first half applying a pesky man-to-man defense which VA couldn't seem to figure out. It didn't help their cause that Emmanuel Arcena had a scorching hot first half, lightning up VA for 14 pts and 2 threes. Dope Squad took a confident 31-22 lead into the half. But a half does not make a game. Team VA turned the tables on the Dope Squad by executing man-to-man pressure spearheaded by VA's young bench squad. Dope Squad looked absolutely clueless on what to do on offense, only able to score 8 pts in the second half. Meanwhile, VA was busy closing the game out on their offensive end with Kevin Ladia's 9 second half points (15 pts, 5/7 FTs for the game) and Ryan Drigger's 8 second half points (15 pts, 3/9 FTs). VA managed to go to the free throw line plenty but hitting only 11/25. Dope Squad went 0/3 from the line. |
| 57 61 |
| 54 68 |
| 47 53 |
| 39 47 |
| POINTS PER GAME 1. Calvin Morris, Raptors 2. Mel Right, Raptors 3. Joy Arenas, Maymar 4. Joe Burgess, Mavericks Anthony Gaviola, Mavericks 6. Jazz Zapata, Dope Squad 7. Chev Zaporteza, Wolfpack 8. Ryan Driggers, Team VA 9. Andy Sanderson, Wolfpack Jay Gundran, Wolfpack |
| STATISTICAL LEADERS WEEK 4 |
| TEAM SCORING 1.Wolfpack 2.Mavericks Maymar 4.Raptors 5.Team VA 6.Lightning Sharks 8.Dope Squad |
| AVG 61.3 53.3 53.3 53.0 49.0 37.5 37.5 34.8 |
| TEAM DEFENSE 1.Team VA 2.Maymar 3.Raptors 4.Mavericks 5.Wolfpack 6.Dope Squad 7.Lightning Sharks |
| AVG 42.3 43.8 44.0 46.0 46.8 47.8 54.5 54.5 |
| TEAM 3pt made 1.Wolfpack 2.Raptors 3.Sharks 4.Maymar 5.Team VA 6.Lightning 7.Dope Squad Mavericks |
| TOT 24 15 13 11 10 7 6 6 |
| TEAM FTs 1.Maymar 2.Raptors 3.Wolfpack 4.Team VA 5.Sharks 6.Mavericks 7.Lightning 8.Dope Squad |
| M/A 29/49 29/50 25/44 28/50 17/35 19/42 10/23 11/29 |
| PCT 59.2 58.0 56.8 56.0 48.6 45.2 43.5 37.9 |
| AVG 20.7 18.0 12.8 11.7 11.7 11.0 10.8 10.3 10.0 10.0 |
| 3PTS MADE 1. Chev Zaportera, Wolfpack 2. Mel Right, Raptors 3. Andy Sanderson, Wolfpack 4. Ron Gozum, Wolfpack Manuel Wilson, Sharks 6. Joy Arenas, Maymar Calvin Morris, Raptors 8. Erwin Deguia, Team VA Jeff Grice, Maymar Lee Harrelson, Sharks |
| TOT 9 8 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 |
| FREE THROWS MADE 1. Mel Wright, Raptors 2. Joy Arenas, Maymar 3. Calvin Morris, Raptors 4. Kevin Ladia, Team VA Dennis Limpin, Sharks Jun Madera, Wolfpack Nick Torres, Maymar 8. 4 tied with 5 |
| TOT 14/18 10/10 9/19 8/11 8/18 8/12 8/11 5 |
| FREE THROW PERCENTAGE Minimum 4 Attempts 1. Joy Arenas, Maymar Jeremy Calazara, Team VA 3. Jody Lowe, Mavericks 4. Oscar Aujero, Mavericks Kenny Hermoso, Wolfpack 6. Mel Right, Raptors 7. Jose Malpaya, Dope Squad Jesse Trinidad, Maymar 9. Kevin Ladia, Team VA Nick Torres, Maymar |
| M/A 10/10 4/4 5/6 4/5 4/5 14/18 3/4 3/4 8/11 8/11 |
| PCT 100.0 100.0 83.3 80.0 80.0 77.7 75.0 75.0 72.7 72.7 |
| INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS |
| Games Played 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 4 3 |
| TEAM STATISTICS |