This early in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament, Adamson’s tendency to falter in the clutch has surfaced more times than the Soaring Falcons would like.
That flaw showed up again on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena, where the Falcons fell short against National University, 56-54.
AJ Fransman, one of the team’s promising forwards, couldn’t hide his disappointment after another ‘what could’ve been’ moment for Adamson.
‘We’re really disappointed because we could’ve gotten it (the win). We were there until we weren’t in the end,’ Fransman told the Inquirer in Filipino. Wednesday’s defeat was far from an isolated case, something Fransman is well aware of.
‘A lot of people are saying we should’ve been 0-4, but for us, we should’ve been 4-0. We can really win, but we’re always crumbling late.’
At one point, Adamson led NU by as much as 11, 52-41, with roughly five minutes left before surrendering a 15-2 closing run.
Contrary to what some might expect, the Falcons aren’t pushing the panic button after this latest loss-they already did that after their previous game.
‘Before this game and after we lost to FEU, the coaching staff told us that we need to push the panic button,’ he said.’ ‘This isn’t the team that we built in the preseason. Now in the UAAP, I really don’t know what happened.’
Adamson dropped to 1-4 at the bottom of the standings after also suffering a 64-58 defeat to the Tamaraws on Sunday.