JEROM Lastimosa carried Adamson on his shoulders for most parts of the all-important knockout game against La Salle.
In the end, it was his teammates who brought him home.
The Falcons displayed excellent character down the stretch as they outsteadied a grizzled Green Archers side, 80-76, to punch the final ticket in the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball semifinals last Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
[READ: Schonny Winston barred from joining La Salle in KO game]
The win pushed the Falcons to another must-win duel against top-seeded Ateneo this Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in their first Final Four appearance since 2018 -and their first under the Nash Racela era.
“We’re happy to be in the Final Four. We’re actually gatecrashing. People don’t expect us to be in the Final Four, but I’m happy that the team did their part in this situation,” Racela said.
“I will check our emotions, we don’t want to be on a high because may trabaho pa and we’re still gonna play Wednesday and the weekend," he added.
Scoring 20 of his 22 points in the first three quarters, Lastimosa turned to his playmaking in the end, setting up a Joem Sabandal three-pointer that cut the La Salle lead down to one, 71-70, with 2:59 remaining before finding a wide open Lenda Douanga to give them the lead for good, 75-74.
Douanga made another heads up play on the next possession, as he found a cutting Cedrick Manzano to give the Falcons a three-point lead, 77-74, with 58 seconds left in the game.
The door was left open after La Salle forced a turnover off the inbounds which resulted to an Evan Nelle fastbreak basket with 15.4 seconds to go, but Lastimosa was cool as ice as he made two free throws to give the Falcons some buffer with 12 seconds to go.
La Salle had one last shot to tie the game, but Nelle took an early contested three-pointer as Adamson hung on to the win.
But the Falcons wouldn’t be in that position had it not for Lastimosa taking matters into his own hands in the third.
The Falcons looked dead in the water as they trailed by as many as 13, but Lastimosa went on a personal 11-0 run midway through the third period to turn a 10-point deficit into a 57-56 lead.
“Sinabi ko sa teammates ko hindi pa tapos yung game kasi La Salle’s up by 10. Hindi kami magi-give up talaga and ramdam na ramdan ko talaga na samin yung Final Four,” Lastimosa said.
Joshua Yerro had a solid game off the bench for the Falcons as he finished with 13 points, as AP Manlapaz added 11 points and two steals.
The Adamson bigs also went to work as Douanga added 10 points and seven boards while Manzano chipped in 12 boards to go along with eight points.
Nelle led La Salle with 22 points and seven assists while Mark Nonoy added 15 points and two steals but the absence of some of their biggest stars were just too much to overcome.
WATCH:
Big men Kevin Quiambao and Mike Phillips were out due to undisclosed injuries, while super scorer Schonny Winston was barred from joining the team by management, sources said.
The scores:
ADAMSON 80 - Lastimosa 22, Yerro 13, Manlapaz 11, Douanga 10, Manzano 8, Sabandal 8, Jaymalin 3, Hanapi 2, Flowers 2, Torres 1, V. Magbuhos 0, Colonia 0, Barasi 0, Fuentebella 0.
LA SALLE 76 - Nelle 22, Nonoy 15, B. Phillips 11, Austria 11, Cortez 10, Abadam 3, Macalalag 2, Buensalida 2, Estacio 0, Nwankwo 0, Manuel 0.
Quarters: 20-27, 38-48, 59-60, 80-76.
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