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Quick Fire: UP survives ugly game and a late UST rally to sink the Drowning Tigers to 0-8

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(Photo Credit: Josh Albelda, ABS-CBN Sports)

UP Fighting Maroons def. UST Growling Tigers 71-69

Notable Players:

Janjan Jaboneta (14 quiet points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist)
The starter designed for defensive missions against the fleety UST wings came out big in the scoring column connecting all his attempts from the distance.  Most notably was his three triples in the 3rd frame that sustained UP's lead against the desperate Tigers.

Jun Manzo (11 points......... )
A doubtful starter with rumors swirling that the rookie from Cebu would require more games to recover from the freak injury.  What injury? Manzo ran rings around his defender and rolled out his new tear drop shot, one the face of  UST's Steve Akomo.

Paul Desiderio (10 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds)
With Desiderio's options fully covered by UST, he found other ways to be relevant by crashing the boards and setting up fellow Maroons.  But Desiderio has to go beyond his dribble-drive-step back-pull up moves to survive Season 80 with all 7 teams more than ready to shut him down.  UST did and Desiderio went dry in the final quarter.

 Ibrahim Quattara (9 points and 11 rebounds)
No galactic numbers and just almost a double-double but Quattara scored when it mattered most.  The Fighting Maroon import's putback provided some spread between UP and UST and followed this with another basket after getting his shot erased by Steve Akomo that stretched the UP lead to 70-64 with 1:16 remaining.

 Marvin Lee (17 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist)
Lee played his game and UST almost pulled of the improbable.  The former Baby Tamaraw showed his mad range sinking shots from all angles as well as providing leadership to a team that direly needs one.  Lee's triple trimmed the lead to only 1, 70-69, but was unable to drain the winning basket as time zeroed out.

Vaughn Soriano (14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists)
Aside from the all-around game, Soriano also showed he can sell a foul and make a three-point bank shot at the top of the key look deliberate.  Soriano's numerous bicep box-outs inside the paint and chasing loose balls gave UST valuable second chances that engineered the last quarter rally.

Quick Analysis

-  An ugly game.  It is an ugly second half for those who want an up-tempo game with a lot of scoring.  UST went to the first 6 minutes and 17 seconds of the final quarter without a field goal and yet almost pulled off an upset.

- Desiderio needs help.  UP's coaching staff better start to draft a scheme of options for the UP scoring machine.  UST collapsed constantly on Desiderio that no amount of footwork can give him space to pull up for a swisher.  The single pick and getting the ball high prompting the dribble drive is no longer going to get it done.

- Note to Boy Sablan, for the Tigers' sake, USE AKOMO.   Akomo, the prized import thought out to be the Mbala kryptonite went through 27 minutes with 13 touches.  The offensive centerpiece got one touch every 2 playing minutes.  Instead, UST chose to fire from short range, drive dominant offense that when broken takes the low percentage 3s.  And while Mbala is an MVP candidate, the kryptonite wallowed with 7 points but with his usual monster rebound number of 20 boards.

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