Adamson University weathered a late fourth quarter storm mounted by Far Eastern University in a 63-54 escape to arrest a three-game slide in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 men’s basketball tournament Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Falcons kept their Final Four hopes alive as they improved to a 4-5 slate at fifth spot while pulling the Tamaraws down to a tie at sixth to seventh tied with University of the East with a 3-6 card.
Adamson came out with all guns smoking as it built a 19-point lead heading into the payoff period but needed to hang tight especially in the last minute of the ballgame when FEU sank back-to-back three-pointers to cut their deficit to six with 20.1 seconds left.
Two free throws from Matt Erolon followed by a split from the foul line by Joem Sabandal put the game away for the Falcons, who before the game confirmed that graduating ace guard Jerom Lastimosa will be out for the season due to a complete anterior cruciate ligament tear on his left knee.
Joshua Yerro led the Falcons with 11 points, Joem Sabandal got 10 markers and Jhon Arthur Calisay finished with nine.
Adamson head coach Nash Racela was relieved his wards survived the tough-fighting FEU but was far from satisfied.
“We’re thankful that we won. But we all look for consistency in our game. The fourth quarter we failed on that,” Racela said of his team that opened the game with an 11-0 lead but only had seven points in the fourth quarter.
“We were the ones leading and we’re the ones that got rattled. We’re thankful to FEU that they only pressured us in the fourth quarter. If they did it the whole game the complexion would be different,” he added.
Adamson held on despite a dry last 10 minutes of the game that saw the squad sink its lone field goal of the quarter in the last 51.8 seconds courtesy of Calisay for a 60-48 advantage.
The Tamaraws mounted one last fightback with LJ Gonzales and Xyrus Torres hitting consecutive treys to cut it to 60-54 but the rally came a little too late.
“Our coaches reminded us that even if we don’t score we just have to go down on defense and not commit any turnover,” Sabandal said.
Gonzales got 18 points and six assists, Jorick Bautista fired 13 markers while Torres posted nine points for FEU, which failed to use the momentum of its win over Ateneo in its previous outing to score another victory.
