WE think we've seen this film before - meaning what Adamson is doing in UAAP Season 88 is actually a rerun.
The Soaring Falcons just aren't going away in this ultracompetitive Final Four race, digging deep and standing strong to take down La Salle, 61-60, Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Up by six, 61-55, inside the last two minutes, coach Nash Racela and his wards had to dodge several bullets in the endgame no thanks to OJ Ojarikre's missed dunk followed by Jacob Cortez and Earl Abadam's 5-0 spurt that pulled the Green Archers to just down one with 28.5 ticks to go.
Off a timeout, Adamson's play for a Matty Erolon triple got snuffed out by Luis Pablo, as the green-and-white had one more shot to steal the win, but Abadam decided to take another trey on a three-on-two fastbreak.
The shot was off, preserving a much-needed win for the Soaring Falcons, while also sending the Green Archers to their third loss in a row.
"We're just happy to be still alive. Sabi namin sa dugout, we want to live another day, so we're happy nakuha namin," said Racela.
Now at 6-7, Racela and Co. remain outside the playoff picture, but nonetheless gave themselves a chance to gatecrash the party heading into the last week of eliminations.
Adamson's fair chance
The outspoken mentor was a few days removed from begging for a fair chance for his team - and while officiating continued to be debatable in this game that went over two hours, got to guide his side to victory.
READ: Racela begs for ‘fair chance’ as Adamson hangs on by a thread
"It wasn't a perfect game, pero ganun lang naman kami lagi e. We just want to give ourselves a chance," he said following the hardfought contest that featured three deadlocks and six lead changes.
Under Racela, Adamson has always been in the thick of things until late in the elimination round - in fact, figuring in three knockout bouts for the fourth-seed in each of the last three seasons.
Erolon top-scored for the Soaring Falcons in this one with 18 points, as Cedrick Manzano and Mathew Montebon also added 15 and 10 markers, respectively.
Up next for them is yet another must-win game against Ateneo.
On the other hand, La Salle finds itself on the brink of falling out of the playoff picture now at 6-6 - just barely ahead of the 5-6 Blue Eagles.
Vhoris Marasigan paced them in the losing effort with 15 points, while EJ Gollena chimed in 10 markers of his own. Free throws continued to do damage to them, though, as they went 13-of-27 from the line in this one-point loss.
The Scores
ADAMSON 61 – Erolon 18, Manzano 15, Montebon 10, Fransman 7, Torres 6, Anabo 3, Ojarikre 2, Medina 0, A. Ronzone 0, Perez 0, Jaymalin 0, C. Ronzone 0, Demisana 0, Barcelona 0.
LA SALLE 60 – Marasigan 15, Gollena 10, Macalalag 8, Phillips 7, Pablo 7, Cortez 5, Abadam 5, Dungo 3, Nwankwo 0, Gomez 0.
Quarters: 17-16, 35-31, 45-50, 61-60
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