(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: SLAM Philippines) Final Score:  UP Fighting Maroons def. De La Salle Green Archers 98-87 Notable Players Paul Desiderio (career high 30 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 53% FG percentage, 60% 3pt percentage) This man who has a single mission of creating nightmares for La Salle shredded Mayhem with his precise sniping from downtown.  Desiderio's aggressive one-on-one moves and with his fluidity in creating space using high screens enabled this deadly Fighting Maroon to keep the Green Archers at bay by scoring 13 points in the 3rd quarter.  Desiderio also missed only 1 of his 7 three-point attempt in the last three quarters engineering a UP comeback and taking the lead for keeps. Jun Manzo (17 points, 4 assists, 47% FG percentage + 1 bold tweet) This Cebuano kid has quickly picked up the Fighting Maroons swagger with a bold prediction before the start of the game.  Not only did he orchestrate the floor to Maroon perfection but also set up ...

(Photo Credit: Arvin Lim, ABS-CBN Sports) Final Score: UP Fighting Maroons def. UE Red Warriors 84-71 Notable Players: Paul Desiderio, UP (28 points, 10 rebounds) : Paul Desiderio looked like he was going to play sub-par again at the start of the game. Everything changed when he caught fire in the 3 rd quarter, scoring 16 points out of his 28. This was a timely boost as UP got ahead by double digits and never looked back. Ibrahim Quattara, UP (14 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks) : Quattara isn’t a main offensive option unlike other imports. Quattara isn't the main offensive option of UP unlike how other teams use their Foreign Student-Athletes, but his size alone was enough to produce points and rebounds for the Fighting Maroons. UE's lack of size was a factor here. Jun Manzo, UP (10 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal) : Don't let the statistics fool you. Jun Manzo delivered, by providing enough scoring, while stablizing the offense of the Fighting M...