One Day Later: DLSU vs NU, FEU vs UST

One-man wrecking crew: Parks provided the offense while NU shut down DLSU (pic source)

 
NU 56 - DLSU 40
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Player of the Game : Unburdened by the fouls that plagued him in their first encounter, Bobby Ray Parks smashed through the Archers pretty good, to the tune of 25 points (including a 10 of 12 freethrow clip), nine rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. 12 of his points came in the fourth quarter, when NU took control for good, combining with Emmanuel Mbe to put the La Salle in foul trouble early, and then hitting a clutch triple that knotted the game, turning control over to the Bulldogs.

DLSU Positives :

• Almond Vosotros turned in a 15 point first half performance on 5 of 8 shooting, single-handedly keeping the Green and White in the thick of things. After getting the short end of the minutes stick in the first four games, Vosotros has come up huge enough times to show whoever the head coach of La Salle next season that he ought to be considered as one of the prominent scoring options the team has.

DLSU Negatives :

• La Salle had no offense beyond Vosotros, shooting 2 for 20 from downtown, 16 for 65 from the field, and tallying just nine trips to the line.The Archers also notched 24 turnovers, matching their season worst. 
• The Archer big men looked downright horrible, missing layups, making bad passes, having the ball stolen immediately after the pass to the interior was made, and so on. 
• Scoring just 40 points in a must-win game has to be a slap in the face of DLSU faithful. The team seemed to lack any sort of urgency until late in the fourth when they panicked and began throwing up triple after triple.

NU Positives :

• NU did a good job of preventing the Archers from getting hustle points, limiting their transition, turnover and second-chance scoring. With all three avenues for easy points essentially kept in check, La Salle was forced into the halfcourt, where their execution was horrible. 
• Despite having just Emmanuel Mbe and Kyle Neypes up front, the Bulldogs were able to contend and limit the various big men La Salle was throwing out. Swarming, pesky double-teaming from the NU guards often did the trick, as the DLSU big men rarely got easy post-ups.

NU Negatives :

• With Joseph Terso nursing a broken arm, Gelo Alolino and Cedrick Labing-isa got the keys to the car, and despite four dimes from Alolino, the point guards often just puttered around, as the forwards did a much better job fighting the La Salle press. 
• The low scoring nature of the game hides the fact that outside of Parks and his 25 markers, this squad still struggles to put points on the board, especially as Mbe stewed with foul trouble. Kyle Neypes deserves a shout-out in this regard, as only Neypes took it aggressively against the DLSU interior, scoring all five of his points in the final quarter.

Monster in the middle - Karim Abdul brought UST to the Final Four (pic source)

UST 77 - FEU 73
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Player of the Game : Hello Kevin Ferrer, so nice of you to reappear when your team really needed you. After a string of horrible shooting games, both from the field and the foul line, the Ferrer that rocked the season's first two games came back, tying his season-high of 19 points, to go with 12 rebounds, an assist, and a block. FEU's three-guard line-up always meant he was being covered by someone smaller (RR Garcia, great scorer, horrible defender), allowing him to simply shoot over his man, and his fourth quarter triple was the nail in the Tamaraws' coffin.

FEU Positives :

• Needing a legit 3-man, head coach Bert Flores inserted Roger Pogoy into the mix, and the Cebu-native delivered. Playing in just 16 minutes, Pogoy scored 14 points, hauled down six boards and made two steals, contributing eight points in the huge third quarter rally that saw FEU take the UST lead down to just two markers. 
• UST's weakness is that it can't stop they can't stop the run, giving up the most fastbreak opportunities and points of all the UAAP teams. FEU used that fact to great advantage, scoring a 21 to 10 third quarter based on 10 transition points and eight turnover points.

FEU Negatives :

• The Tamaraws' slow start made it too difficult for them to properly seize a lead in the fourth quarter. Down 23-11 after the first quarter, only their "Big Three" of Garcia, Romeo and Ramos scored in those first 10 minutes, as the supporting cast gave them nothing in the face of the UST blitz. 
• Injuries have been the story of the FEU season, and it's a story that continued in this game, as Russel Escoto was limited to just eight minutes of play because of his sprained wrist, though he did manage to make an impact by hitting a huge triple. 

UST Positives :

• The Tigers shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half, quickly establishing a huge lead that turned out to be too huge for FEU to overcome.
• Against a lack of quality big men on the Tamaraws, Karim Abdul romped through their interior, finishing with 20 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. 

UST Negatives :

• The second unsportsmanlike foul on Karim Abdul may turn out to be a huge blow to the Tigers hopes of winning their last assignment, should he be suspended. With Carmelo Afuang already out, UST does not have the frontcourt depth to match up against Emmanuel Mbe and may draw an unfavorable seed in the stepladder format.

UAAP Picking Record: 40-12