Pumaren pleased with Falcons’ defense despite loss to Eagles

It wasn’t the rematch Adamson University had in mind against league-leader Ateneo in the second round of the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo.

The Soaring Falcons stunned the Blue Eagles, 74-70, in the opening weekend of the season but couldn’t replicate that same success in the two teams’ second meeting after dropping a 62-48 decision in a defensive matchup.

Ateneo and Adamson scored just nine apiece after the opening period before the Blue Eagles started converting their shots in the middle quarters.

Despite the result, Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren cherished his games against Ateneo and its brilliant mentor Tab Baldwin, who coached the Philippines and New Zealand national teams.

“It’s nice playing against Ateneo,” said Pumaren, who also had his share of Ateneo-La Salle games being a five-time champion coach with the Green Archers before his tenure with Adamson.

“Hopefully, we can still meet each other, they bring out the best in me and the best out of the team because we’re coaching against a very experienced coach.”

Adamson converted just 27 percent of its shots, 17-of-62, while Ateneo fared not a lot better at 31 %, 19-of-61, but had its offensive moments in the middle quarters.

The Blue Eagles mounted a 32-12 run bridging the second and third periods and took a 41-21 lead after Anton Asistio’s triple midway through the penultimate quarter.

“They played well, we played bad. We were taken out of our comfort zone,” said Pumaren, whose team stayed in second place despite dipping to an 8-3 record.

“If you’ll look at the end-game, we still played decent defense, it’s just our offense because we didn’t execute well.”

Adamson was able to trim the lead to 12 points, 56-44, with 4:11 left in the game after Jerrick Ahanmisi’s three-pointer but the Blue Eagles were able to hold on and allowed just one Soaring Falcon field goal for the remainder of the game.

Pumaren, though, still admired his team’s defensive efforts for holding Ateneo down to just 62 points and that mark is the second-lowest offensive output the Blue Eagles had all season.

The Blue Eagles’ 60-point production in a three-point loss against Far Eastern University was their lowest of the tournament.

“Coming from a team that’s been on a massacre mission, they scored just 62 points so we still had a decent defensive effort for tonight’s game,” said Pumaren.