Adamson University is closing in on the top seed in the UAAP Season 85 boys’ basketball tournament after a 66-52 victory over De La Salle-Zobel (DLSZ) at the FilOil EcoOil Centre on Wednesday, February 22.
The Baby Falcons improved to 11-1, a full game ahead of Far Eastern University (FEU)-Diliman and Nazareth School of National University (NU), who are tied in second place with 10-2 records.
The result means that the Junior Archers (4-8) must win their last two games, while also hoping that University of Santo Tomas (UST), 6-6, loses their games just to force a playoff for the last Final 4 spot.
Heading into the game, Baby Falcons head coach Mike Fermin knew that DLSZ was hungry to snap the three-game skid they were in.
“Going into this game, we are trying to limit the scoring of the opponent to under 50. This game, ‘yun lang ang goal namin,” Fermin said.
“Hats off to Zobel dahil ang ganda ng game plan at execution nila. They shot well and played good defense. Sabi ko nung halftime, we just had to toughen up,” added the former men’s and women’s basketball head coach of Adamson.
Midway through the final frame, the Baby Falcons clung to just a 54-48 lead before the Junior Archers caved in to the pressure. Back-to-back turnovers by Shad Chang and Kieffer Alas led to baskets for Peter Rosillo and Vince Reyes, respectively.
Reyes and Matt Edding continued to ride the momentum, extending the Adamson lead to 62-48 with 3:03 remaining.
The Junior Archers could not recover from there, suffering their fourth straight loss.
“Bad game. Nanalo lang siguro kami dahil sa turnovers nila e,” Rosillo, who led Adamson with 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists, said.
Edding tallied 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals, while Reyes added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Rhyle Melencio was once again the sole bright spot for Zobel, producing 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Alas also notched a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 points, but he needed 16 field goal attempts to reach double-digits.
Earlier, FEU-Diliman — just like NU earlier in the day — kept their top two hopes alive, soundly beating also-ran University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS), 81-67.
The Baby Tamaraws and the Bullpups are knotted in the standings at 10-2.
“Ang ganda ng nilaro nila compared to first round namin. Ang ganda ng adjustments nila,” FEU head coach Allan Albano said, recalling the 97-59 beat down they gave the same team in the first round.
“‘Di kami naka-adjust sa zone defense nila kaya kailangan namin balikan ‘yung zone offense namin,” he continued.
Luke Felipe led the way for FEU with 24 points built on four triples, while JR Pasaol scattered 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals.
VJ Pre finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, logging the most minutes for any Baby Tamaraw in the contest at 24 minutes.
Kobe Demisana and Jonas Napalang were once again the only source of offense for the Fighting Maroons. The former got 21 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks while the latter put up 20 markers.
UPIS suffered its 10th straight loss. (ABS-CBN News)