Far Eastern University spoiled Jerom Lastimosa’s return to Adamson University with a convincing 77-63 victory in Group II of the 2023 FilOil EcoOil Preseason Cup yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The Tamaraws gave Lastimosa, fresh from helping the national team capture the gold medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, a rude welcome as they evened their win-loss record to 3-3.
Cholo Añonuevo had a monster game for FEU, coming up with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds to go with five assists and three steals.
Janrey Pasaol backed him up with 16 points, five assists, three steals, and two rebounds as the Tamaraws held on to hand the Falcons their fourth loss in seven games.
“We’ve been struggling in the past couple of games so we talked about our situation and that we should be accountable,” FEU head coach Denok Miranda said.
Añonuevo led the way in repelling an Adamson uprising in the third quarter that cut FEU’s advantage to just three, 50-47.
He drained a crucial trey to spark a decisive 8-0 blitz to widen Tamaraws’ lead to 58-47.
FEU was never threatened after that.
‘We’ve been struggling in the past couple of games so we talked about our situation and that we should be accountable.’
“We always have a strong start but we also have that tendency to lose momentum. I’m glad they showed great character in not giving up in this game,” Miranda said.
Lastimosa immediately made an impact in his return from a tour of duty as he put the Falcons on top, 22-18, midway through the second quarter before Añonuevo scored four points in a 12-1 run for the Tamaraws’ 30-23 heading into halftime.
Lastimosa led Adamson with 12 points and three rebounds.
Meanwhile, Lyceum of the Philippines University kept pace in the Group I quarterfinals race as well after a 102-78 rout of Emilio Aguinaldo College.
Red-hot Jae Omandac fired 31 points built on nine triples on top of five rebounds, four assists, and three steals for the Pirates’ fourth consecutive victory for a 5-2 slate.
Enoch Valdez then contributed 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals for Lyceum.
The Generals fell to a 2-4 card.
