With its back against the wall, Ateneo de Manila University ended Adamson University’s 11-game winning streak, 58-55, in the UAAP Season 85 junior basketball tournament at Paco Arena on Saturday.
However, the Blue Eagles’ Final Four bid is no longer in their hands despite rising to 5-8. They need to beat De la Salle Zobel on Wednesday and hope that University of Santo Tomas loses to the University of the Philippines Integrated School and to the Soaring Falcons on Wednesday.
With just 30 seconds left in the game, Peter Rosillo was able to find Mat Edding for a clean jumper to give Adamson a 55-54 lead.
A miss from Jordan Salandanan from deep was rebounded by Lebron Nieto. Nieto was fouled on a putback attempt by Edding sending him to the line with eight ticks remaining.
The Grade 12 guard nailed both of his free throws to put Ateneo up.
Off a timeout, Rosillo went for the quick shot but missed. Again, Nieto went to the stripe, extending Ateneo’s lead to three with 1.8 seconds left on the clock.
Another miss by Rosillo sealed Adamson’s doom.
Nieto produced 19 points, six steals, five rebounds, and five assists for Ateneo while Grade 11, Cebuano big man Kristian Porter got 17 points and 20 rebounds.
