La Salle University forward Kevin Quiambao plays against Ateneo during the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin has nothing but praise for La Salle star Kevin Quiambao after the reigning MVP led the Green Archers to a win over the Blue Eagles in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
Despite being stymied by the Ateneo defense, Quiambao found a way to make a big impact in La Salle’s 74-61 victory Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
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“Kevin is a really good player. From what I’ve seen in my eight years, he’s top class by UAAP standards. He should be in the same league as Carl Tamayo, Thirdy Ravena and Justin Baltazar. Especially when you talk about Filipino players, he’s right at that level,” Baldwin told reporters.
Schedule: UAAP Season 87 Basketball
Baldwin played box-and-one defense against Quiambao, holding the Gilas Philippines star to just 4-of-14 shooting and 1-of-9 3-pointers, but Quiambao finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
“He’s not just a scorer, he reads the game well, he passes well and he’s a leader for the team. We’ve already seen him do it in key moments this year, even in preseason tournaments, so he deserves the respect,” the Ateneo coach said. “Attacking an opponent with a box-and-one is one of the best signs of respect an opponent can receive and we’re happy with that. He shot 28 percent in the game and we felt we caused him a lot of problems, but he did more than that by rebounding and finding his teammates.”
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Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin during the UAAP match against La Salle. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
“This is what really good players do when the opponent is trying to get out of their game. Kevin is a true force in the UAAP and one that every team should be especially prepared for,” he added.
Besides Quiambao, Baldwin also gave praise to Mike Phillips, who energized La Salle with 13 points and 14 rebounds, along with three steals and two assists. Phillips was a big factor in the Green Archers’ dominance in the rebounding department, leading them to a 62-38 win over the Eagles.
“He’s a monster. A monster on rebounds. He did a great job,” Baldwin said. “We were also anticipating the fact that La Salle’s guards have a really high rebounding average. You see, even just in a couple of games, they put their guards on offensive rebounds. If you don’t run at them, you can’t punish them. So you have to be effective on rebounds, and we weren’t able to do that.”
READ: UAAP: Coach Baldwin: ‘Be patient with the process’ as Ateneo starts 0-3
“You don’t want to give the ball away altogether. After all, La Salle had a 63 percent offensive rebounding percentage, which means they got the rebound themselves about one out of two times. If you give it away to the other team, it’s hard to win.”
Despite Ateneo’s worst start in a decade, coach Baldwin remained patient with his young team as the Blue Eagles hope to resume their winning streak against the Adamson Falcons on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“It takes time, so we really have to pressure them to make that choice in the moment and to be focused on that, treat it like a really important task, and then there will be success in some way,” Baldwin said.
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