JOSHUA Yerro blew the roof off of Smart Araneta Coliseum as his alley-oop at the buzzer lifted Adamson University to a 60-58 victory vs. National University on Wednesday.
It was a picture-perfect connection from the inbounding Jhon Calisay to Yerro with 0.3 seconds left to wake up the sparse crowd inside the Big Dome and more importantly, continue to unfurl the Soaring Falcons' bag of surprises this UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament.
What a way to end the Adamson-NU defensive battle
Yerro's game-winner came on the heels of Jolo Manansala's short stab that looked like it would be forcing overtime.
That came after Cedrick Manzano's go-ahead inside basket that seemed to be all the difference Adamson needed.
“Thank God, pumasok,” sighed Yerro, with the basket being the biggest of his 11 points, to go with his five rebounds, three steals, and one assist. “Sabi ko lang kay Calisay, wala nang (extra) five minutes ‘to.”
The win was almost not meant to be especially after Adamson lost grip of a six-point lead, 56-50, with 1:40 remaining and Manansala miraculously tied the game after Manzano’s supposed heroics.
But the Calisay-Yerro connection did the trick, pulling a victory out of the jaws of defeat and hack out the ugly win in a battle between equally struggling teams.
“It was (assistant) coach Gilbert [Lao] who drew that play. That’s the dynamics of our coaching staff,” said coach Nash Racela as he shared the glory with his staff.
It really wasn’t pretty, with both teams shooting poorly (Adamson’s 34-percent to NU’s 27-percent) and failing to take care of the rock as the two teams combined for 34 turnovers.
No question, it further magnifies the gap between the two squads and the elites like La Salle and the University of the Philippines.
Nonetheless, the Soaring Falcons’ good was good enough to earn their third win in five games.
Mathew Montebon led Adamson with 15 points on 3-of-4 shooting from distance, while AJ Fransman got eight points, six rebounds, two dimes, and two steals.
On the flipside, it’s another painful defeat for National U which slipped to its third straight defeat to fall further to 1-4.
Manansala paced the Bulldogs with 15 points, nine rebounds, and two assists, as Jake Figueroa and Kenshin Padrones combined for 21 points and 12 boards in the sorry loss.
The Scores:
ADAMSON 60 – Montebon 15, Yerro 11, Fransman 8, Calisay 5, Manzano 5, Erolon 5, Ojarikre 4, Anabo 3, Mantua 2, Barasi 2, Ramos 0, Alexander 0, Ignacio 0.
NU 58 – Manansala 15, Figueroa 11, Padrones 10, Palacielo 8, Jumamoy 5, Enriquez 4, Santiago 3, Francisco 2, Yu 0, Garcia 0, Lim 0, Perciano 0, Tulabut 0, Parks 0, Dela Cruz 0.
Quarters: 18-13, 29-38, 43-43, 60-58.
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