After totaling 58 points in the last two games of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, many thought that Paul Desiderio has finally found his lethal form.
But standing in his way on Sunday afternoon was a familiar face, a life-long friend in Ron Dennison.
“Magaling talaga dumepensa si Ron,” admitted the fourth-year Fighting Maroon as he and Dennison had been teammates back in their high school days at the University of Visayas.
“Alam niya lahat ng galaw ko. Alam niya, alam niya.”
Dennison, who stands at 6-foot, has had a good track record against Desiderio, limiting him to just 12.33 points on a combined 13-for-41 clip during their last three match-ups — all ending in his wins.
Even with this, Desiderio admitted that he was not able to adjust to what Dennison had given him in the match against the Far Eastern University, resulting in a measly nine-point outing on a horrid 4-for-12 shooting clip.
“Di ko napaghandaan si Ron kaya nag-struggle ako sa offense,” Desiderio said after UP’s 59-78 loss.
“Halos di na ako makatanggap ng bola. Struggle. Pagtira ko, may tao na talaga.”
Still, the defense Dennison gave him made Desiderio realize that he needs to be more than just a scorer for UP moving forward.
“Kailangan maging decoy na. Di na talaga ako mao-open e,” he shared.
“Sana makabawi kami agad.”
