Adamson U won its fifth game in six outings in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament after swopping down on University of the East, 66-57, Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Soaring Falcons held fort at the third place with a 6-3 record while the Red Warriors saw their two-game win streak snapped and slipped to 2-7.
Jerrick Ahanmisi capped off Adamson’s 19-7 run that spanned the last two quarters with a fade-away bank shot with 2:22 left in the game that gave the Soaring Falcons a 64-55 lead.
Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren knew facing a UE team that had won two straight games would be a different task compared to their meeting in the first round which ended in a blowout, 79-60 .
“It was not an easy game for us, we struggled because UE is on a streak and they really played well,” said Pumaren. “They’re not the UE team that we played during the first round.”
“But my team stayed within the course, and we just had to slow [Alvin] Pasaol down a bit.”
Pasaol was averaging 30.67 points the past three games but the Soaring Falcons managed to slow him down to 22 points and 12 boards.
Papi Sarr powered Adamson with 12 points and 15 boards while Jerrick Ahanmisi led the team in scoring with 14 points.
Mark Olayon added 16 points for the Red Warriors who lost Nick Abanto and JC Cullar to injuries in the fourth quarter.
Abanto hurt his knee late in the final quarter a few minutes after Cullar fell awkwardly on his left ankle with 6:35 left in the game.