Adamson Soaring Falcons failed to dodge bows from the De La Salle Green Archers, 68 – 61, on Saturday claiming its third loss in the round one of the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball tournament at Ynares Center.
Although coming from a huge win against UST, Soaring Falcons were not able to defend the win from DLSU as Andrei Caracut rescued the team as he drilled back-to-back clutch treys from downtown securing a five-point lead in the last 58 seconds of the last quarter.
The first 10-minute of the game was a non-stop exchange of baskets between the rivals. Aggressive plays of Val Chauca paved the way for the Soaring Falcons to take the first lead, 21 -15, but also claiming early fouls in the game.
Simon Camacho tried to stop the bleeding as Jerick Ahanmisi assisted him for a fast break shot. The captain ball drove again inside but cannot connect, good thing Egie Mojica was there to clean the almost-missed finger roll.
Balti Baltazar, who came up with big 21 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks played the mayhem defense and unstoppable jumpers and treys in the paint alongside Joaqui Manuel and Jamie Malonzo creating a huge cushion against Adamson. 41 – 32
The 66% field goal of the San Marcelino-based squad compared to Taft-based squad’s 88% in the first half was not enough to take away the lead.
Coming from the dugout, Ahanmisi did not allowed the hungry archers to take the lead further clipping a foul against the aggressive Malonzo cutting the lead to three possession. However, teammates for a long time Andrei Caracut and Aljun Melecio disagreed to Coach Franz Pumaren-lead team’s plan as they pull up the game back into 10-point lead.
Ahanmisi pull up a trey from the rainbow country at 4:21 forcing Coach Jermaine to a timeout. Supporting it with a full court press and a hook shot of Camacho resulting to all 46 at 3:31.
Blue-clad gang took advantage to the momentum and outsmart the boys in the white shirts with a backdoor cut. Chauca and Camacho took care to take the lead up to their favor only to fuel Baltazar to shot beyond the arc taking back the lead. 52 -49.
Soaring Falcons entered the 4th quarter with a solid defense forcing the Green Archers to double up effort to keep the lead in their favor. Caracut-Lastimosa match up was an intense defensive and offensive rivalry prompting both teams to extend performance onto the next level. Ahanmisi pull up a trey downtown to cut the lead short to three points in 7:08 but Baltazar answered immediately off the glass taking back the lead. 55 – 52.
Camacho snatched the momentum through his contested layup against three Green Archers relentlessly attempting to hold him off from the basket. Capitalizing the heat, Lastimosa assisted Camacho for a layup followed by Chauca’s acrobatic inside layup.
Technical foul was given to Adamson for improper bench decorum gave Melecio and his team the opportunity to secure the lead up until the last second of the game. Douanga was fouled in the last seconds of the game but neither of the freethrows saved them from a huge loss against the Green Archers. Missed buckets of the Soaring Falcons was a way for Caracut to his pair of daggers and forced the Adamson’s defense to collapse.
Adamson Soaring Falcons is about to take on FEU Tamaraws on September 28, 2019 at Mall of Asia Arena.
Scores:
La Salle 68 – Baltazar 21, Caracut 15, Malonzo 12, Manuel 6, Lojera 5, Melecio 4, Bates 3, Bartlett 2, Cagulangan 0, Cu 0, Meeker 0, Pado 0, Serrano 0.
Adamson 61 – Ahanmisi 13, Chauca 13, Camacho 12, Mojica 9, Douanga 7, Lastimosa 3, Fermin 2, Zaldivar 2, Bernardo 0, Flowers 0, Magbuhos 0, Manlapaz 0, Yerro 0.
Quarters: 15-21, 41-32, 52-49, 68-61
