Adamson holds on to stun Ateneo

Adamson’s Jerrick Ahanmisi celebrates after hitting a three against Ateneo. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

Adamson pulled off an early upset after taking down title favorite Ateneo, 74-70, on Sunday night to cap off the opening weekend of the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena.

Papi Sarr put up the biggest shot of the game after he cleaned up Sean Manganti’s miss and connected on a layup that gave the Falcons the lead for good, 72-70, with 39.4 seconds left in the game.

That dramatic sequence was the punctuation mark of an already frantic fourth quarter after Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren was called for a technical foul with 4:41 left in the game.

“We can’t do anything about that call because it was already given, there’s no point arguing,” said Pumaren. “I just had to concentrate down the stretch.”

Pumaren’s technical foul was due to “improper bench decorum” after he got livid on questionable foul calls against his players.

That infraction, however, was just the beginning of heart-stopping moments late in the game.

Jerrick Ahanmisi was given the green light for an isolation play and he took full advantage of his freedom and drove to the basket for the layup that put Adamson up, 70-68 with 1:09 left.

Adamson’s lead, however, lasted for just eight seconds after Thirdy Ravena followed up Isaac Go’s missed triple with a putback dunk tying the game at 70 with 1:01 remaining in the game.

Ahamisi put up a game-high 23 points for the Falcons while Vince Magbuhos had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Matt Nieto led Ateneo with 21 points.

The Soaring Falcons joined University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, and National University as the victors this season.