(Photo Credit: Marie Dobuyan, Tiebreaker Times) UP Fighting Maroons def. FEU Tamaraws 59-56 Notable Players: Paul Desiderio, UP (15 points, 5 rebounds): Paul is reminding us that "shooters shoot". Keep shooting, Paul. Ibrahim Ouattara, UP (10 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks): Ouattara was huge for the Fighting Maroons, thoroughly outplaying Prince Orizu in this match-up of theirs.  Jasper Parker, FEU (13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists): If not for Desiderio's game winner, we'd be talking about Jasper Parker and how he's starting to get a hang of the UAAP game. Not bad, rook. Arvin Tolentino, FEU (12 points, 6 rebounds): When Arvin gets going, we out of here. Now if only Arvin could replicate that third quarter more consistently.... Quick Analysis: - Man what a defensive slug fest! Both teams played some terrific defense on each other, and the percentages weren't pretty at all (30 percent FG% for both). At the end of the day, all it took w...

(Photo Credit: Arvin Lim, ABS-CBN Sports) DLSU Green Archers def. UP Fighting Maroons 85-62 Notable Players Ben Mbala, DLSU (27 points, 14 rebounds, 7 offensive rebounds, 28.33 minutes of hounding Paul Desiderio):  "You don't like me when I am angry" is a phrase patented by the Hulk, that fierce green giant.  When Mbala got angry, he decisively shut down Paul Desiderio from making any buckets on his watch.  Mbala blanked the UP rapid shooter who was only able to cough out two successive triples in the second quarter when La Salle shifted to their 1-2-2 leaving the wings open. Mbala made more strong backdoor cuts that resulted into easy twos or sending him to the line where he made 12 of 14 attempts. Ricci Rivero, DLSU (20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals):  Talk about coming back from scoring coma, Ricci Rivero came into life for the 3rd straight game aptly supporting Mbala in keeping UP's defense honest.  Using that unbelievable wingspan to the max, Ricc...

(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-ste...

(Photo Credit: Arvin Lim, ABS-CBN Sports) FEU Tamaraws def. UP Fighting Maroons 78-59 Notable Players Ron Dennison, FEU (16 points, 2/4 3FG, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, one shut down Paul Desiderio): Dennison was the man responsible in averting any UP run. Not only did he hit some big buckets down the stretch, but he played some terrific defense on Paul Desiderio, hounding him to a season low 9 points. Best two-way player in the league? No doubt. Richard Escoto, FEU (12 points, 5/9 FG,  +28): There's a reason why Escoto had the highest +/- number in the game; No one in UP could stop him because of how he dominated UP's forwards in the post. Dennison closed the deal, while Escoto was the one who stayed steady for FEU all throughout. Ibrahim Ouattara, UP (17 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks): Ouattara was key in UP's UPrising *ba dum tss* during the third quarter, aggressively grabbing rebounds and attacking the rim versus FEU's small front line. He turned Bark...