MANILA, Philippines – After five straight losses bridging the first and second rounds, the Adamson Soaring Falcons finally found their way back to the win column of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
Led by a career game by AJ Fransman, the Soaring Falcons pulled off a 45-37 upset over the third-seeded UE Red Warriors at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, October 30.
Fransman dropped a career-best 14 points in the low-scoring affair, with 13 coming in the second half alone.
Like the Adamson rookie, Matt Erolon also finished with 14 points, while Cedrick Manzano tallied a double-double of 12 markers and 11 rebounds for the Soaring Falcons, who finally hiked their record to 4-7.
“Of course we’re thankful that we won,” said Adamson head coach Nash Racela.
“I thought the ghost month was October. We almost went winless in the month of October,” added Racela in Filipino as Adamson notched its first win since its thrilling 60-58 escape of the NU Bulldogs last September 25.
“It’s good that we were able to get the win towards the end of the month. This is something that we really need,” continued Racela as the Soaring Falcons also broke a three-way tie with the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the FEU Tamaraws for the solo fifth spot.
With Adamson holding a precarious 33-32 lead at the start of the payoff period, Fransman spearheaded a furious 10-0 run to build a double-digit spread over UE with 5:57 to play.
Fransman unloaded 8 of his 14 points during that blitzing 10-0 rally, including two cold-blooded three-pointers.
Precious Momowei finally ended UE’s drought with a layup at the 4:05 mark, before Manzano hit a floater with 2:39 left to restore Adamson’s double-digit lead, which put the Red Warriors away for good.
Overall, Adamson held UE to just two field goals the whole fourth quarter, with both those baskets coming from Momowei.
Momowei led the Red Warriors with a double-double of 12 points and 17 rebounds, but the 6-foot-9 foreign student-athlete also committed 9 turnovers.
Devin Fikes and John Abate backed up Momowei with 9 and 8 points, respectively.
Despite the sorry loss, UE remained at the No. 3 spot with a 6-4 card.
The Scores
Adamson 45 – Fransman 14, Erolon 14, Manzano 12, Montebon 3, Anabo 2, Calisay 0, Ramos 0, Yerro 0, Barasi 0, Mantua 0, Ojarike 0.
UE 37 – Momowei 12, Fikes 9, Abate 8, Lingolingo 5, Maga 2, Spandonis 1, Cruz-Dumont J. 0, Galang 0, Mulingtapang 0, Cruz-Dumont H. 0, Finney 0, Wilson 0, Malaga 0, Go 0, Robles 0.
Quarters: 13-12, 22-19, 33-32, 45-37.
– Rappler.com