FIFTY five points.
That’s the difference, in total, between Adamson and La Salle in the two meetings they’ve had this UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
The Soaring Falcons have drawn the worst of all the beatings that the Green Archers have given out, with the 27.5 average winning margin being the biggest for the defending champions against any team this year.
Yet as overwhelming of a favorite as La Salle is, Adamson coach Nash Racela would be the first to remind that nothing is set in stone just yet, especially now that it’s the Final Four.
“We don’t have to bring kung ano man yung nangyari sa amin sa past games ngayon. We all start at 0-0 naman eh,” he said.
All the Soaring Falcons wanted was a chance to compete, one that they were given and took advantage of when they snared the final ticket to the semifinals at the expense of University of the East.
Behind the brilliance of Cedrick Manzano and Mathew Montebon, as well as their choking defense, which ranks among best in the league by just allowing 59.29 points on 37-percent field goal shooting, they caught the last bus.
And with that same battlecry, the San Marcelino ballers approach this Final Four duel against the Green Archers at 6:30 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum with an open mind that anything is still possible even for supposed minnows like them.
Eyes on the prize, still, for La Salle
Curiously, La Salle coach Topex Robinson echoed those same sentiments.
Even if the Taft side finished the eliminations as the top seed with their 12-2 slate and are favored for a return trip to the Finals that inches them closer to their dreams of a back-to-back, the worst thing they could do is underestimate the competition.
“It’s always a brand new ball game and we can’t be complacent thinking that we’ll just walk over Adamson. We have to treat this game with respect because if we don’t, we’ll be in big trouble,” he said.
Kevin Quiambao, set to be named back-to-back UAAP MVP, returns to the Green Archers camp after his sojourn with Gilas Pilipinas in the second window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, but the focus for Robinson is how the supporting cast would respond after their week-long camp in Silang, Cavite.
That should be a big lesson after La Salle fell to NU, 63-54, to end the eliminations and one that Robinson does not want to repeat especially now in the postseason.
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