Adamson guard Joseph Nalos. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
“It’s about time.”
Adamson interim head coach Mike Fermin let out that sigh of relief after the Falcons finally put an end to their winless run following a 73-68 victory over University of the Philippines on Sunday.
The Falcons got plenty of help but it was second-year guard Jerome Garcia who shone the brightest.
“He’s one of the players that we really rely on when it comes to offense, so going to this game, J-Gars really prepared for it,” Fermin said of Garcia in Filipino. “Credit to him. We pushed him to the limit and he responded.”
Garcia set the tone for Adamson with 19 of his 26 points coming in the first half as the Falcons built enough cushion to withstand UP’s late uprising.
“[Coach is] the one giving me the confidence to drive. He said it’s better to shoot than to hesitate and I really worked hard on my outside shooting,” Garcia said, referring to Fermin.
Aside from his offense, Fermin also commended Garcia’s dedication to play within the team’s system and for focusing on playing defense first before anything else.
“We’re pushing him to defend. That’s the reason why sometimes, he doesn’t get the playing time, because we prime on defense,” said Fermin. “At times in this game, he even defends (Paul) Desiderio. So we just push him to defend and don’t gamble on defense.”
Garcia, a former JRU Light Bomber, followed his coach and he was also key in helping Adamson limit the Fighting Maroons’ top weapons.
Fermin hopes that his players won’t feel satisfied by just winning one game.
“Our goal is to win as many games as possible and improve from last year. We got one already, but we’re still working just to be there competing. We’ll just trust the system and stay with each other,” he said. “We just need to be more patient and who knows, we may end up surprising more teams.”