UAAP: Adamson Falcons fan fading Final Four hopes
Adamson’s Anthony Fransman shines against UE in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Adamson finally caught a break after a tough stretch that left its UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament campaign in jeopardy.
Still licking the wounds of a five-game losing streak that put the Soaring Falcons way out of Final Four talk before Wednesday afternoon, Adamson now has some reason to be hopeful after carving out a 45-37 upset of third-placed University of the East (UE) at Mall of Asia Arena.
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“I thought that October will be a ghost month for us, we almost had zero wins for the month,” coach Nash Racela said as the Falcons breathed some fire to its dying semifinal hopes after improving to 4-7.
“It’s good that we were able to get the win toward the end of the month. This is something that we really need,” Racela went on. “I’d say our players are doing their part even with those five straight loses that we had.
“But we told them to just continue doing the right things, and eventually you’ll get that win. It’s good that we were able to get it today.”
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It was a low-scoring game, but no one expected the Red Warriors, who had been taking the league by storm with big wins on the way to a 6-4 record, to be held to just 37 points.
Cold shooting for both
Although Adamson also had trouble connecting—going 17-of-59 from the field—its defense played a huge part in limiting UE as the Red Warriors were surprisingly starved to just three conversions from beyond the arc as its main gunners John Abate, Wello Lingolingo, Rainer Maga and Ethan Galang and big man Precious Momowei all had trouble with the Falcons’ defense.
“I think our defense really was commendable. I was looking at the stats, we were able to limit [UE’s scorers] and then when I looked at their three-point numbers, I was surprised they only made three,” Racela said.
“That’s something that we tried to take away so today we were successful.”
Matt Erolon and AJ Fransman joined hands to bring the Soaring Falcons back on track as Adamson won for the first time since a 60-58 victory against National University in the first round.
Erolon and Fransman finished with 14 points apiece with Fransman, who scored 13 of his points in the second half, also adding nine rebounds.
Ced Manzano anchored the Falcons with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds as Adamson got its fourth win in 11 games.
Close shaves
Those five straight losses, save for the one against defending champion La Salle, were close and this win could definitely give the Falcons the confidence they need in their final three games, which they need to sweep to entertain thoughts of advancing.
“We just want to take it a game at a time,” Racle said. “That’s always something that we preach, you improve yourself, acknowledge the mistakes, understand how you could correct it and eventually things will fall in place.
“The good thing about the players is that they continue to fight even if sometimes you cannot paint their faces because of what we went through. They still pushed through,” he added.
