BY Andrei Barrantes
AFTER looking like anything but the reigning and defending UAAP boys' basketball champions, Adamson is now finally flying high in Season 87.
Winners of three of their last four, the Baby Falcons have completely clawed their way out of the 1-3 hole they dug for themselves at the onset of their title defense.
According to head coach Mike Fermin, the biggest credit for their recent successes goes to their bigs, who have answered his call.
"I was vocal in calling out our bigs eh, kasi doon kami nag-struggle. Now, kita mo naman [yung] little contributions kay [Johnrey] Abayon, kay [Sanir] Sajili, kay [Jireh] Tumaneng, and kay [Allen] Perez," he said, talking about their undersized frontline that doesn't feature a foreign student-athlete (FSA) like top two teams NU-Nazareth School (Collins Akowe) and University of Santo Tomas (Racine Kane).
"So with those little contributions, it's going to be big. Dito, naramdaman namin sila, so that's why half of the battle, nanalo na kami because of the bigs,” he continued after their triumph over fellow playoff hopeful De La Salle Zobel last Sunday.
READ: Defending champion Baby Falcons tighten grip on solo fourth
Still, the fact is the white-and-blue is trying to fill the big void left by Vince Reyes, the versatile forward who joined forces with Tebol Garcia in their title run last year, even as Perez and Co. are doing their best.
That will be even truer in their looming rematches with Kane and the Tiger Cubs, as well as University of the East's Jean Bana.
For Fermin, however, the goal is to compete no matter what.
As he put it, “Kami, ok lang kami. Ang sa'min lang is we take care of our own business, [our] own backyard, kasi ‘yung top two teams ngayon, meron silang FSA eh, malaking bagay talaga. Kami naman, we just try to do our best to compete with them.”
That means that Adamson feels no urgency to bolster their squad with an FSA of their own.
"Right now, wala. Hindi naman sa hindi, pero hindi lang napag-uusapan. Kay Fr. Aldrin [Suan], sa sports office naman, hindi napag-uusapan, kasi as long as we are competing, ok kami. Kung may darating, welcome sa amin, kung wala, basta laban lang yung mga bata," its shot-caller said.
Control what you can control
Right now, the Baby Falcons are laser-focused on what's ahead of them - meaning, continuing to improve from their current 6-5 standing and extending their title reign into the playoffs.
Good thing then that they're coming together just in the nick of time - and captain Mark Esperanza and his teammates only aim to grow closer.
“Mga past games namin, hindi talaga kami as a team naglalaro eh. Parang kanya-kanya kami, so unti-unti na namin nababalik yung tiwala namin sa isa't-isa, yung chemistry ng team, and tiwala ni coach Mike,” he said.
“Pagtatrabahuan namin. Sa practice, one game at a time. Tulong-tulong lang kami sa bawat laro.”
Fermin added, “Honestly, hindi namin iniisip yung back-to-back. Our mindset is one game at a time. 'Pag nandun na sa Final Four, who knows?"
"Kasi if ma-sweep ni NU, stepladder (playoffs), so may chance ka. Basta one game at a time, 'pag dating doon, tsaka namin trabahuhin.”
Though Adamson is, slowly but surely, pulling away from the muddied middle nearing the end of eliminations, nothing is assured. Fortunately, their chemistry is starting to emerge - and that may very well be the wind they need beneath their wings.
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