ADAMSON may have ended its Playtime Care Filoil Preseason Cup with a 63-54 loss to the University of the Philippines on Wednesday, but coach Nash Racela has reasons to be excited, especially with the grit of his young crew.
Trailing by as many as 18 early in the fourth, the Falcons came as close as five before the defending UAAP champions pulled off an escape act in the end to take the win.
“I asked them during half time and after the game, did they (UP) do something special? And then there was one player that said, it’s just hustle,” Racela said.
“It’s good that we were able to play them this early, so alam namin yung mga hinahabol namin. We have a couple of months before the UAAP, so we have a few months time to play at a level that could go toe-to-toe with UP.”
And making him even more excited is how that rally was led by rookie Earl Medina on offense, while also getting great work defensively from likewise newcomers Allen Perez and Zahir Sajili.
Medina scored seven of his 15 points in that last push, including two big three-pointers which kickstarted the Adamson fightback.
“The goal is to give the other guys the needed exposure, more so the high school players namin. They played major minutes today. That’s really the goal,” he said.
“It’s not perfect when you use the younger players, but I’m happy with what they gave us this preseason which gives us hope moving forward sa season na ’to.”
Medina a 'given’
The 19-year-old played five of the six games in the preseason tourney for the Falcons and finished with an average of 12 points, anchored on two threes a game, while shooting nearly 35-percent from downtown in 26 minutes.
Racela acknowledged how Medina will certainly play a big part in their run come Season 88, but as with any rookie, the former understands that the latter's bound to make mistakes.
“He would be a major player for us and for our program, pero siyempre, we don’t want to rush yung bata,” Racela explained, stating how there was a time when he felt he had to pull back a bit even after Medina's promising earlygoing.
“Right off the bat, he was the first guy that was available from our high school program. Right away he played major minutes, ang ganda ng pinakita niya,
“I think somehow, may time na he felt, feeling ko lang, it’s just my observation, he felt the pressure. Medyo inatras ko nang kaunti. I used him off the bench.”
With Medina regaining his footing and continuing to ease into the college play, expect him to continue to be one of the Adamson’s constants moving forward
As Racela put it, “Ngayon, ok naman, so far, ok naman. He could be the given, one of the givens, in our upcoming season.”
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