ADAMSON kept its record in the UAAP Season 81 unblemished, holding off National University, 63-58, in a defensive tussle on Saturday in San Juan.
Simon Camacho scored eight straight points, with NU able to respond with only two markers, midway through the fourth period as the Falcons opened a 51-41 lead.
Jerom Lastimosa and Papi Sarr then drained the telling baskets in the end game as the Falcons improved to 5-0 for the tournament while sending the Bulldogs to their third straight defeat for a 1-3 record.
“Basically like what I anticipated, in the game against UP, coming from a bad game they really played hard, same thing with NU. They had a one week game preparation for us and I anticipated that they’ll be coming out strong,” said Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren.
“We’re just lucky that we survived that ambush. We made a lot of mistakes, we made it difficult on our part. I guess we’re in this position because our defense were keeping us afloat,” he added.
Sean Manganti continued his impressive run for the Falcons, delivering 14 points, four assists and two steals.
Sarr and Jerrick Ahanmisi added 11 points apiece for the Falcons.
Camacho came off the bench and injected the much needed energy in the fourth as he scored all eight of his points in that run and finishing with three blocks and five boards.
Dave Ildefonso bounced back from a bad night against Ateneo as he finished with 14 points to lead the Bulldogs but the brilliant rookie got little help as they dropped their third consecutive loss to fall to a tie for seventh place with University of the Philippines.
The scores:
Adamson 63 – Manganti 14, Sarr 11, Ahanmisi 11, Camacho 8, Espeleta 4, Lastimosa 4, Zaldivar 4, Mojica 3, Colonia 2, Bernardo 2, Magbuhos 0, Pingoy 0, Catapusan 0.
NU 58 – Ildefonso D 14, Joson 11, Rike 8, Ildefonso S 6, Morido 6, Galinato 4, Yu 3, Gaye 2, Tibayan 2, Clemente 2, Diputado 0, Gallego 0, Sinclair 0.
Quarterscores: 11-10; 26-21; 43-35; 63-58.
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