Heat check

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The Adamson Falcons are still hot. Alvin Pasaol? Even hotter.

Four days after putting on a shooting performance to remember, Alvin Pasaol reprised his heroics to power the University of the East Warriors to their first victory of the season at the expense of University of Santo Tomas, 96-91, Saturday in UAAP Season 80 at Mall of Asia Arena.

In a fitting follow-up to his 49-point explosion against La Salle, the stocky wingman fired a game-high 32 points as the Warriors prevailed in the battle of cellar-dwellers and breathed life into their Final Four aspirations.

“I’ve been saying that he’s gonna be the man this season,” said UE coach Derrick Pumaren, referring to Pasaol.

“I’m sure that because of that confidence that he got against La Salle, he’s going to have back-to-back really awesome games.”

Later, Adamson turned an expected tight duel with Far Eastern U into a display of its awesome firepower as the Falcons rolled past the Tamaraws, 95-79, to keep its hot streak going and climb to solo third.

Jerrick Ahanmisi and Jonathan Espeleta finished with 17 points each as they set the tone for the Falcons’ strong start en route to their fifth win in seven games. The Tamaraws struggled to find their rhythm as they dropped to 4-3 for solo fourth.

Adamson’s fourth straight win is now the longest winning streak for the Falcons since Franz Pumaren took over last season.

“There were times that we had a lot of mistakes but we surprised a lot of people that we are in this position,” said Pumaren.

In the battle of previously winless teams, the Warriors established control early, although they needed another strong finish to weather a late storm from the Tigers.

Pasaol got plenty of help as Philip Manalang added 20 points and Jason Varilla and Mark Olayon finished with 15 points each for the Warriors, who improved to 1-6.

For the first time since the Final Four was instituted in the 1993-1994 season, UST failed to win a game in the first round as they dropped to 0-7.