MANILA, Philippines—Freego Jeans flexed its muscles in the opening day of 2011 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup with a 85-52 clobbering of an overhauled PC Gilmore Thursday at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig.
Made up of a core of players from Adamson and a few standouts from Ateneo, Freego Jeans head coach Leo Austria admitted he was surprised with his squad’s dominating performance as they only had little time to gel.
“The players from Ateneo started playing just last Wednesday, some joined us just yesterday [Wednesday]. So I was surprised, but I’m happy because they fit my system,” said Austria, also Adamson’s mentor in the UAAP.
Rodney Brondial poured eight of his total 12 points in the payoff period where Freego Jeans led by as many as 42 points, 76-34.
Fellow Falcons Lester Alvarez and Eric Camson each added 10 markers.
Former Blue Eagles Bacon Austria, Jumbo Escueta and Chris Sumalinog, meanwhile, combined for 28 points.
“They (players from Ateneo) already know my system, maybe because we battled each other a lot in the UAAP,” added Austria.
Freego refused to pull punches after it readily pulled away from the Wizards in the second quarter.
Macky Acosta did most of the work with 18 points for PC Gilmore, although it didn’t quite make a glaring difference as his squad stared at a huge deficit all game.
The Wizards only have four holdovers from the squad, which reached the semifinals of the PBA D-League Foundation cup last summer.