More Air-time for Air Force Ellis Photo courtesy of Sports5 |
The young core of Japeth Aguilar (17 ppg 12 rpg 3 bpg), Greg Slaughter (15 ppg 12 rpg 1bpg) and Chris Ellis (11 ppg) are leading the charge while veterans Mark Caguioa (8 ppg 3 rpg 1 apg) and L.A. Tenorio (4 ppg 4 rpg 5 apg) provide the steadying "bail the kids out when needed" presence every now and then. What's different here is how systematic the team looks under Cariaso, how they all know who are their main guys (Aguilar and Slaughter) or basically the guys who can make the whole game easier for every one else. It's no longer Caguioa shouldering all of the offense or Tenorio putting on his Superman cape and doing it all-- it's inside, out, Triple Post, disciplined basketball.
At times, we see Slaughter serving as the Triangle's anchor with Ellis and Aguilar working off him. Some times, we see Aguilar out of that mix and freelancing-- looking for the easy drop pass or just sneaking his way inside for the putback slams and easy deuce.