Adamson posts first win, adds woes to UP

Adamson celebrates its first win of the season at the expense of struggling University of the Philippines Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena. Jun Veloira/INQUIRER

Adamson held on for its first win and kept University of the Philippines reeling with a stunning 73-68 victory in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Jerome Garcia showed the way for the Falcons, lighting it up with a career-high 26 points, 19 of which came in the first half.

Joseph Nalos added 15 markers, five rebounds, and five assists while JD Tungcab chipped in 13 points to help Adamson arrest a six-game tailspin.

“Let’s give credit to the boys. I told them, ‘let’s end the first round with the win’ and they did it, so hats off to them,” said Adamson interim head coach Mike Fermin.

Papi Sarr also came up huge for the Falcons with the Cameroonian center just missing out on a double-double with eight points and 11 boards.

UP fought back from a 19-point halftime deficit, 47-28, and even took a 62-61 edge with a blistering 18-4 run in the fourth quarter behind the lead of Paul Desiderio.

READ: UP suffers another setback, loses big man to injury

Adamson appeared to be falling apart after committing four technical fouls in the payoff period but the Falcons drew heroic efforts from Garcia, Nalos and Tungcab down the stretch to salvage the breakthrough victory.

Desiderio powered the Fighting Maroons’ late spurt, scoring 19 of his 26 points in the second half, but his performance wasn’t enough to drag UP out of its slump.

The Maroons, who lost a key contributor in big man Jerson Prado to injury in the second quarter, were sent crashing to their fifth consecutive defeat after starting the season at 2-0.

The Scores:

ADAMSON 73 – J. Garcia 26, Nalos 15, Tungcab 13, Sarr 8, Polican 5, Ochea 4, Margallo 2, Ng 0, C. Garcia 0, Villanueva 0, Camacho 0.

UP 68 – Desiderio 26, Longa 9, Jaboneta 7, Dario 6, Kone 4, Amar 4, Prado 4, Moralde 3, Vito 3, Asilum 2, Harris 0, Lim 0, Manuel 0, Juruena 0.

Quarters: 21-14, 47-28, 57-46, 73-68.