ADAMSON was on the wrong end of a stunning University of the East game-winner in the form of a last-gasp Wello Lingolingo recovery shot to end the first round.
READ: UE, UAAP’s hottest team, embraces the pressure from winning
Record-wise, it would be the Red Warriors that’d pick up their fifth straight win in seven games, sending the Soaring Falcons down to fifth with four losses.
It’s for certain Adamson will try to exact revenge and beat UE come Round 2. But it’ll also try to be like UE and take pages off its playbook to replicate its Cinderella run to date.
Final Four door wide open
Adamson head coach Nash Racela rued a missed opportunity to slot into the top four midway through prelims play.
But they understand well enough that the door to the Final Four is far from shut.
“We wanted to be at four, siyempre. I think that’s the target of all the teams. We didn’t get it, but the good thing about it moving forward, going to the second round, you’re just a game behind the No. 4 (UST at 4-3) and two games behind UE at No. 3 (5-2),” Racela explained.
“Anything is still possible. Of course, you want to be in a better position sana, but things happen. Maybe we’re not yet ready to be in that position. We need to make our adjustments still. Hopefully, we correct that in time.
“Just like UE, we want to make our own run.”
A ‘game of adjustments’
Racela hopes that it’ll take just a bit more fine-tuning to make his resurgent Soaring Falcons a well-oiled machine by the end of the elimination round.
After a few close calls in Round 1, bar a 30-point beatdown at the hands of defending champion La Salle, Adamson lost three of its last four games by an average margin of 7.33 points.
And Racela will, for sure, take inspiration from how their latest tormentor paved their path of success.
“We lost four games, but a lot of those were really close games. Even the wins that we had, medyo close. Ibig sabihin, the message really is, every game we have a chance. We put ourselves in a good position to compete and try to get wins," he stated.
The Adamson shot-caller explained, “In the first round, we just got three wins. Hopefully, we get more in the second round para magkaroon naman kami ng tsansa. UE was able to do that then they become our inspiration.
“Sa second round, sana mala-UE rin yung performance namin.”
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