FILE – Jerrick Ahanmisi. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Adamson gutted it out in the final seconds and held off Colegio de San Juan de Letran, 89-85, in the group stage of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup Saturday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Soaring Falcons improved to a 3-1 record in Group A while the Knights dropped to 4-2.
Adamson held a 78-68 lead midway through the fourth but still needed to hold off Letran late.
Jerrick Balanza converted on a fall away jumper in the paint to cut Letran’s deficit to six, 86-80, with 48.2 seconds remaining in the game.
Allen Mina then, made it a four-point game, 89-85, with a corner three off Balanza’s pass with 15 seconds left to play.
Letran, however, failed to sustain its late-game run with Adamson big man Lenda Douanga securing the rebound after Balanza’s missed three.
Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren said the preseason tournament will help him see where his team is heading into the UAAP, wherein they lost to University of the Philippines in the Final Four last season.
“This tournament will help us gauge our team, we have to fine tune our team, we have to make sure that we need to correct our bad habits,” said Pumaren.
Jerrick Ahanmisi led the Falcons’ offense with 17 points, four rebounds, and four assists while Jerom Lastimosa had 15 points.
Douanga missed out on a double-double with 12 points and nine boards for Adamson.
Balanza finished with 20 points for the Jnights while King Caralipio added 11.