Manganti scores UAAP career-best as Adamson blows past UE

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Adamson drew big games from its stars to whip University of the East, 90-76, and stay undefeated in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Sean Manganti scored 27 points, his personal best in the UAAP, Jerrick Ahanmisi led a pivotal second quarter breakaway to finish with 17 points while Papi Sarr notched a double-double with 15 points and 21 rebounds for the Falcons, who improved to 2-0.

Ahanmisi sparked a 17-4 Adamson surge in the final six minutes and 14 seconds of the first half where the Falcons turned a three-point deficit into a 42-32 halftime spread and never looked back.

Adamson coach Franz Pumaren, however, wasn’t in a celebratory mood even after a dominating victory.

“Nothing against UE, but we made it a very difficult game on our part. I guess that some of the guys coming into this game the mentality is that UE is just gonna roll over and give the ball to us but it’s different,” Pumaren told reporters.

Pumaren had to call for a timeout near the midway mark of the second quarter after the Red Warriors grabbed a 28-25 edge.

That’s also when Ahanmisi took matters into his own hands, scoring eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to get the Falcons rolling.

“We started flat and I just wanted to pick up the intensity,” Ahanmisi, who went 3-of-6 from downtown and had four rebounds, said.

A corner triple by Jonathan Espeleta stretched Adamson’s lead to 20, 67-47, with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter but UE still had little fight left in them behind Alvin Pasaol, who kept shooting and attacking the basket.

Pasaol wound up with 36 points but needed 34 shots while the rest of his teammates combined for 33 attempts. He also had 10 rebounds.

The Red Warriors (0-2), who are coming off an 87-58 loss to University of the Philippines last Sept. 8, couldn’t come within single digits.