MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Adamson was never talked about as a Final 4 candidate when Season 87 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament began. But with relentless effort, coach Nash Racela believes that there’s a spot on that elite list for his Soaring Falcons.
Though very early within the elimination round, stunning revamped University of Santo Tomas, 69-56, on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena showed that the Falcons have what it takes to place their name within the hat.
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“There have been some doubts heading into the sport after struggling the previous couple of days,” coach Nash Racela said after his wards climbed as much as 2-1 to be in the corporate of the title contenders. “What the primary half showed was we will stick with them (Growling Tigers).
“After the break, it’s a realization that ‘Oh, it is feasible [to compete] despite UST having a stronger lineup and support in comparison with last yr. We are able to play with them’ [and] that triggered it within the second half.
“Our defense was commendable,” Racela added.
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Santo Tomas, which absorbed a primary loss after two consecutive wins, got here out of the gates strong to regulate the primary quarter only to crumble the remainder of the best way when the gritty Falcons doggedly ran them down.
Matthew Montebon gave the Falcons their first taste of the lead, 33-32, late within the second quarter, before Adamson methodically pulled away to make this an unpleasant night for Santo Tomas and its faithful.
Crippling blitzkrieg
Nic Cabañero, Santo Tomas’ important cog, drained a triple to start out the third quarter followed by a floater. However it was all downhill from there for Santo Tomas as Adamson rained down on the España-based squad with a mammoth 20-1 run bridging the third and fourth frames for 55-38.
It was an amazing character win for the Falcons, who were coming from an 82-52 shellacking by the hands of defending champion La Salle.
And that’s where the doubts Racela talked about got here from.
“Like coach Nash said, our focus was pretty bad in preparation for La Salle, so we took that as a learning opportunity,” Montebon said after leading Adamson within the bounce back win with 15 points, five rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of steals.
Two more stepped up for Racela in Anthony Fransman and former Tiger Royce Mantua, who each finished 11 points. Fransman, a transferee from Enderun, laced his offense with 10 rebounds.
No reason to rejoice
“In my first game, I used to be still feeling it out since it was my first time in a giant arena [so] I’m just sticking with coach Nash’s system [and] try to achieve his standard and do what I would like to do,” Fransman said in Filipino.
But even when Adamson improved to a 2-1 card, there isn’t a reason for the Falcons to rejoice as Racela tries to maintain his team’s confidence in check.
“Every game is different, that’s something that we realized and from FEU (Far Eastern U), La Salle to UST after which I feel we play Ateneo next so every game is different,” Racela said. “We’re preaching to them that our defense will probably be different [each game] so don’t be too joyful with the result.
“The tendency of an individual is to be complacent. They think that they’re already good after which unexpectedly in the following game you face a tricky team, so hopefully they learn from that La Salle experience. We must always prepare higher moving forward,” Racela added. INQ
