BEFORE we go to the second round of eliminations in the UAAP Men?s basketball tournament, let?s take a look at the moments that made the first round exciting.

The following are my personal top five picks:

Heartwarming tribute

The first round couldn?t have ended in a better way when the Ateneo and La Salle communities both agreed to wear yellow last Sunday to pay tribute to former president Cory Aquino. It was unprecedented in the 72-year history of the UAAP when the two rival schools donned a color that was neither blue nor green. The Araneta Coliseum was packed with a sea of yellow as the song ?Bayan Ko? played in the air before the game started.

Ateneo vs La Salle: Round one

This one is a no-brainer. Every Ateneo-La Salle match-up has proven to be one for the history books and their recent encounter again left everyone up on their feet up to the last second. The game was so intense that all hell almost broke loose when Green Archer Joshua Webb unleashed a kick on Ateneo?s Bacon Austria after a rebound play near the end of the game. They needed an extra period to settle the score, which saw the Blue Eagles claw a come-from-behind victory over their archrivals. With the Blue Eagles drawing first blood, we?ll see if the Archers can bounce back tomorrow in their rematch.

Battle of Katipunan

We normally see upsets of gargantuan proportions in basketball every once in a while but this one really caught everyone off-guard. The struggling UP Fighting Maroons stunned their Katipunan neighbors from Ateneo and, well, the rest of us, when they turned what was supposed to be a ?ho-hum? game into a 10-point upset win. The reaction of people after the game ranged from disbelief to jubilation. I even remember a cousin of mine who was really not a fan of basketball tell me that all they were talking about the whole week was the UP-Ateneo game.

Back-to-back double OTs

Fans got all their money?s worth as the National University Bulldogs-Adamson Falcons and University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers-DLSU Green Archers match-ups ended in double overtime fashion. The energy and intensity levels rose as the Bulldogs and Archers both came from behind and turned seeming defeats into improbable victories.

Rookies break out

Prized rookies lived up to the hype when DLSU?s Arvie Bringas and UST?s Jeric Teng exploded with their career-high 21 and 22 points, respectively. Bringas? output powered La Salle to a double-OT victory over UST while Teng?s brilliance saved the day for the Tigers in their game against the Maroons.

Bringas was a former Juniors Most Valuable Player in the NCAA last year for San Sebastian while Teng, the son of former pro Alvin Teng, was the main gunner for Xavier. These two will surely be battling it out for the Rookie of the Year honors.