Adamson University got vindication and slipped past De La Salle, 57-50, in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament on Saturday.
The Soaring Falcons got back at the Green Archers, Franz Pumaren’s former team, for the 79-78 overtime loss to in the first round. Incidentally, this is Pumaren’s first win over the Green Archers since returning to the UAAP.
Adamson bumped its record to a league-best 7-2 while Green Archers dropped to a 5-4 slate but stayed at the fourth spot.
“We treated this game as a game that we need to win because of the standings and we’re hoping we can sustain this position right now,” said Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren, who stopped his 0-7 start against the Green Archers.
“What really transpired was it really showed our defense.”
Adamson held a slim 50-46 lead midway through the fourth and that’s when the Falcons started to fully clamp down on the Green Archers.
Simon Camacho and big man Papi Sarr had two blocks in one possession to force La Salle to a shot clock violation and the Falcon center then pestered Justine Baltazar to cough the ball up with 3:50 left in the game.
Jerie Pingoy followed it up with a ballsy three against the defense of Aljun Melecio to put the Soaring Falcons up 53-46 with 3:31 to go.
Sarr then scored on a driving layup for Adamson’s 55-50 lead with 1:05 left before the Green Archers shot themselves in the foot with two straight turnovers coming off timeouts.
Sean Manganti led Adamson’s offense with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Sarr had his own double-double of 12 points and 15 boards.
Melecio had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Green Archers.
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