The Adamson University Soaring Falcons stays on top as they break the hearts of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons with a winning score of 69-68, last September 26 at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan. Led by the team captain Sean Manganti, the Falcons gained its fourth win with zero loss in this season. The Falcons took the first quarter with 16-24, with the help of Jerie Pingoy, who fired three 3-point shots consecutively, Ahanmisi with six points contribution, and Sarr with five. Ending the first half with 28-30, in favor of the Adamson, the Fighting Maroons were able to lessen the gap of eight points to two points with Bright Akhuetie, who is playing center for the UP team, contributing six points in the second quarter. Despite leading the scoreboard, the Falcons only contributed six points to keep the lead to the team coming from Jonathan Espeleta and Sarr, who scored three points each. UP’s Men’s Basketball Team found their rhythm in the third quarter as they scored a total of 29 points and made the biggest lead of the entire game of 10 points scored by Juan Gomez de Liano who contributed 11 points and Akhuetie with 10 points ending the game with 57-47. Regardless of falling behind in the third round, the blue and white managed to score and keep the game close with Manganti stepping up, contributing 10 points to the team. Although the Soaring Falcons lost track in the previous quarter, they handled the situation well and bounced back as they cut down the 10-point lead to one with the help of a 3-point shot from Ahanmisi, assisted by the team captain. The Adamson crowd went wild as the lead was in favor of the Falcons through another 3-point shot from Espeleta leading the scoreboard with 66-67, with 1 minute and 35 seconds remaining in the clock. The lead was turned back to the UP as Akhuetie rebounded the shot of Paulo Desiderio and scored two points from under the basket, giving them a point ahead from the AdU team. The Fighting Maroons' momentum had stopped after team captain Manganti crucially scored the last two points, with 5.7 secs. remaining in the shot clock, ending the second half of the game with a total score of 68-69. Manganti with a tallied score of 18 points, Ahanmisi with 15, Sarr with 11 points, Espeleta with 10, and Pingoy's 9 points led the Falcons into soaring higher and be unbeaten this season. The Adamson Soaring Falcons will go against the National University Bulldogs on October 1 at 1:00 pm at the FilOil Centre.
