Adamson turned to its defense to slow down streaking University of Santo Tomas, 69-59, at the end of their UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball first round campaigns on Saturday at Araneta Coliseum.
The Soaring Falcons, flaunting the league’s best defense, posted just their third win in four games and snapped the usually high-octane Growling Tigers’ three-game winning streak. ‘I’d like to say we just got lucky today because they’re playing their third game in seven days. We felt that last time,’ Adamson coach Nash Racela said, referring to UST, which was coming off a triple overtime win over Ateneo last Saturday and another victory over FEU just three days ago.
‘We felt a little bit tired, but we still took advantage of UST,’ added Racela, whose squad allows a league-best 63 points per game.
The Falcons took a 13-point lead but needed to hold off the Tigers’ rally in the fourth after Kyla Paranada cut the deficit to just five early in the final frame. Gelo Crisostomo then pulled UST back again to within six, 65-59, with still 1:45 to go. Crisostomo’s triple, however, was the Tigers’ last basket as the Falcons forced them to miss their last three attempts from the field.
AJ Fransman led the Falcons with 18 points while Cedrick Manzano recorded 12 points and eight rebounds.
Nic Cabañero topscored with 23 points while Collins Akowe registered 10 points and 16 rebounds for UST, which remained in second place with a 5-2 card.