The UE Red Warriors always brings out their A-Game against their neighbor school, FEU.  Every year, they have been giving FEU good, close games that sometimes lead to UE’s Victory. Last Thursday, they almost did it again, but not quite.

The Tamaraws proved that their skin was too thick and hard to damage especially at the final quarter, as they endured the attacks of the Red Warriors.

At first quarter, FEU showed what they can do in offense, as Paul Sanga led the attack. And UE had a hard time to find their offense, as their main guy was heavily defended.

Not much as a show for RR Garcia in the early parts of the game, as he was heavily guarded by Raffy Reyes and also entering into early foul trouble. On the other hand, FEU displayed hard –nose defense against Paul Lee by fielding Jens Knuttel, Gryann Mendoza & Chris Exciminano. But after 1^st quarter, Lee started to pump-up his offense, as well as his teammates. Lee finally found his shooting stroke as he led UE to a furious run and cutting the 16 point lead of FEU to just 7 after the 1^st half.

As Paul Lee scorched on offense, his teammates also joined the UE run, particularly Lordy Casajeros, Raffy Reyes & Ken Acibar. They also got the lead from FEU in the later minutes of the 3^rd quarter. But after that UE started to slow down as their leader, Paul Lee suffered cramps. This injury showed the true weakness of UE. If Paul Lee has a bad game or if his not in the court, UE loses its main source of inspiration, because the offense always revolves around him.

As I expected, UE Coach Lawrence Chongson didn’t use the suicidal 4-guard lineup as he did use in their previous encounter against DLSU. Instead, he tried to face FEU head on despite the Tams’ great size advantage.

Some players played their breakout basketball in this game namely FEU’s Paul Sanga & Aldrech Ramos & UE’s Lordy. But still, there are also players that are still groping for form, particularly James Martinez & JR Cawaling.  Still, a no show for this people.

It also made me wonder why Paul Sanga was benched for a long time despite shooting the lights out earlier in the game. For me, if he just stayed on the court longer, a blow-out would have ensued.

I also noticed that even we had our big men working inside the paint; it shows that UE still managed to stay close, just because of the exceptional play of their backcourt. They carried UE throughout the game, with help from forward, Ken Acibar. And finally, I noticed that Lordy Casajeros plays well if UE’s opponent is FEU. Remember the FEU-UE game during the FilOil-Flying V Cup?

He’s one of the people who helped beat the heavily favored Tams in that game. In this game, He had the word “Beat FEU” in this band. Hmm… something personal? HAHA!

In the 3^rd straight game, FEU somewhat played at the level of their opponents. All of their victories were close but we’ll see if another close one happens against the struggling, the UP Fighting Maroons

 

July 25th, 2010 by PinoyH A Fine Arts Graduate who loves to watch any kind of sports, especially Basketball(Pro or Collegiate), Football(Premier League, Bundesliga & Spanish La Liga) & Volleyball. Ako lang ata ang ganun sa Fine Arts O_O He also loves pretty girls hehe.