Bombers smother Generals to spoil Esplana's coaching debut

The Bombers of Jose Rizal are not only capable of exploding. On Wednesday, coach Vergel Meneses and his troops put premium on making stops at every turn. Defense was the name of the game for the Heavy Bombers, who held the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals scoreless in the first six minutes en route to a convincing 76-50 triumph in the NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan. The Generals paraded a new coach in former PBA superstar and now Valenzuela councilor Gerry Esplana. But the new EAC mentor was caught flatfooted by Meneses’ run, jump and switch pressing defense he employed for the Heavy Bombers. The Heavy Bombers raced to an 11-0 lead before the Generals could score in the final four-minute mark of the first period. The Heavy Bombers even made life miserable on their rivals all the way to the fourth period when they posted a 58-26 lead. The Mandaluyong-based dribblers were never seriously threatened from there as they coasted to their 11th win in 14 games. "I told the team before the game that we must win by a convincing margin so we can gain some confidence against some of the top teams in the league," said Meneses, who was a former teammate of Esplana with the Sta. Lucia Realtors in 1993. Esplana, a former stalwart of Sta Lucia and Shell, succeeded Nomar Isla, who was promoted as the school's representative to the NCAA Management Committee. Isla steered the Generals to three consecutive championships in the Universities and Colleges Athletic Association from 2004-2006 and the National Capital Region Athletic Association crown in 2005. JRU kept a firm hold of the third spot in the elimination round, but it faces two tough assignments -- against San Beda (12-0) on Monday and against Mapua on September 29. "We have yet to beat those 'A teams' this season. Hopefully, we can get one against San Beda," said Meneses. John Lopez top scored for JRU with 14 points, 10 coming in the third period. He also grabbed four rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Point guard JR Bulangis added 10 points. Meneses was pleased with the way his team played. JRU had 14 turnovers less this time, compared to their previous meeting with EAC where it committed a total of 32 turnovers. Milan Vargas led EAC with 13 points while Claude Cubo added 10 points and 13 boards. The Generals succumbed to their eighth straight defeat and fell to 2-12. - RCJ, GMANews.TV