The Adamson University Soaring Falcons made their 2016 Filoil Flying V Premier Cup debut Saturday afternoon against the De La Salle University Green Archers.
In a surprise to many, the San Marcelino-based squad featured a lot of new faces. This included Filipino-Americans Sean Manganti, Jerrick Ahanmisi, and Robbie Manalang, James Pasturan, and Terrence Mustre just to name a few.
The Soaring Falcons were able to keep close up until the final frame as Jeron Teng, Ben Mbala, and JBoy Gob outmuscled the Adamson frontcourt. The Green Archers were able to take the win 98-88.
First year Adamson head coach and multi-time UAAP champion coach Franz Pumaren admitted that he was surprised with the performance his team gave even in going against the veteran-laden La Salle team. “I think we made a very good run. I’m so happy with the players. Imagine we were down big and we were able to regain our composure even though Mbala was there,” Pumaren said.
Adamson’s Sean Manganti
He then highlighted the stellar play of Manalang and Manganti, both grew up in California, USA, as the bright spots of the game in saying, “As a whole, I think Rob will be a very good point guard. For Sean, he just has to mature right away and adapt to his new position.”
Pumaren disclosed that his team is far from 100 percent conditioning-wise since the UAAP is still five months away. Moreover, Pumaren and the team’s sponsors are planning an “Asian Swing” for the team after their Premier Cup campaign to better prepare the rookie-filled team for the UAAP grind. “We’ll be having an Asian swing. Right now we’re looking at playing some Chinese games,” he shared. “So probably we’ll play four to six games and then probably, if time permits, we’ll be in Korea and Taipei. But we already have a lineup of games coming in June.”
In joining various pre-season tournaments and out of the country camps, what Pumaren and the team’s boosters are trying to do is change the team’s culture that will lead them to at least a Final Four berth for the first time since the 74th Season of the UAAP. “I like what I’m seeing right now,” he added. “I can be a little bit harsh and hard on them but I’m here to change the culture of Adamson because as we all know, there’s a tendency for them to just be happy competing, puwede na, boundary na.”
Adamson Falcons team captain Dawn Ochea
And this includes bringing a certain bit of “swagger” for the “meek” Falcons.
“During my pregame talk, I was telling them, you know, people are saying the Adamson players are so meek and they’re not really that aggressive, they don’t have what you call that ‘angas,'” Pumaren shared. “I was telling them comments of other people that it’s only the coaches who really have the ‘angas.'”
“I’m not saying that they should be cocky. They should just be confident about themselves because if they start feeling confident about themselves, things will just fall into their proper places,”the Adamson head coach closed.
