HEADING into the fourth quarter, Adamson once again found itself with its back against the wall, this time against University of Santo Tomas last Wednesday.
The Growling Tigers were already up by five after three quarters before bloating their lead to as much as 11, 77-66, inside the last five minutes.
From there, though, Ray Allen Torres and Mathew Montebon worked their magic, scoring the Soaring Falcons' next 22 points, with the former accounting for 12 of those.
But beyond the two 6-foot guards going berserk, they also managed to run down UST with an unconventional late-game lineup of Torres, Montebon, Matty Erolon, Earl Medina, and Cedrick Manzano.
Yes, that's one big, one wing, and three guards.
In a desperate bid to complete the comeback, Adamson threw everything but the kitchen sink — fielding a smaller, faster squad to push the pace, even at the risk of the Growling Tigers' hulking Nigerian Collins Akowe feasting in the paint.
“Sometimes, when you're desperate you do mga things out of this world,” said head coach Nash Racela. “So minsan, hindi common. But at the same time, maybe we saw an advantage just having that kind of lineup.”
With this young, small ball lineup, the Soaring Falcons forced overtime after pulling off a furious 9-1 fightback in the last 30 seconds of regulation.
READ: Adamson three-headed monster at guard scares UST out of Top 4
Racela also brought back the same five in overtime, where their unorthodox unit yet again propelled them to an Erolon game-winning trey.
“[If] it worked for us, then I look like a genius. Pero if it did not, dami na naman magagalit sa atin. So ganoon talaga ang buhay, just take risks,” he said.
Big brain move or not, the collegiate champion coach admitted the come-from-behind win took a lot out of him and his staff - and he's just glad to have seen his wards answer his call.
As he put it, “I think this is the game where I shouted the most. Just my reaction to their made three-pointers. I was celebrating because I was enjoying it.”
“They heard a lot from me during the half, sinulat ko sa board, ‘Team over self.’ So I guess the fourth and the overtime, it was the team.”
No-longer-surprising Falcons
With Adamson rising to 5-4 and overtaking UST at the fourth spot in the standings, the San Marcelino squad is still very much in the running in the Final Four race.
And with an overwhelming victory like this, where they executed their comeback to near perfection, Racela is confident now more than ever that his squad is ready for many more moments that could go down the wire, especially as the elimination round winds down.
“Well, that's what we want, always. Whether it's a game or it's a season, it's really just to give ourselves a legit chance [and] winning today's game gives us that,” he said.
“So hopefully moving forward, we continue to fight. We have five more games. Those games will be crucial.”
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