UAAP: Adamson nips hard-luck La Salle

MANILA—Adamson showed it can flourish in tight games as it nipped De La Salle, 66-58, Saturday in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Falcons, though, got a dash of luck as the so-called breaks of the game just went to their favor. And even Adamson coach Leo Austria admitted it as well.

“This is my luckiest day,” said Austria, whose squad lost a down-the-wire tiff against National University last time around.

“We got lucky because we still won even though we didn’t shoot well,” Austria added.

That wasn’t the only luck Adamson had.

Off a broken play and with the shot clock winding down, swingman Janus Lozada banked in a dagger of a triple from way downtown that gave Adamson a 64-58 spread with 1:20 left.

La Salle, on the other hand, took part in a series of unfortunate events at the most inopportune time.

Nothing proved costlier than Joseph Marata’s missed lay-up with under a minute that would have given the Green Archers life.

Adding insult to injury, LA Revilla followed suit as the returning point guard botched a short stab of his own that would have trimmed Adamson’s lead to four with under forty seconds remaining.

Adamson’s fourth win in six games is not all about luck as the Falcons drew another stellar performance from playmaker Lester Alvarez.

Alvarez set a season-high with five triples en route to an 18-point night.

Lozada chipped in 14 points while Alexander Nuyles had 12.

“It’s a good confidence build up for us, and our goal is close to realization,” said Austria.

Big man Norbert Torres carried the scoring load for La Salle with 14 points as Revilla struggled with two markers.

Revilla managed to only convert one field goal from seven futile attempts, also attributed to the sturdy defensive scheme put up by the Falcons.

The Archers dropped to 3-3.