There were no sense of excitement o the faces of Franz Pumaren and the Adamson University Soaring Falcons after their Final Four-clinching win over the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Wednesday afternoon. After all, they have reached the semifinals for the last three years.
“Well, of course, we are happy reaching the Final Four but… I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite, but we’ve been doing that for the last two years,” said Pumaren, a five-time UAAP Men’s Basketball Champion coach.
Even the student-cagers were as stoic as one could be when notified that they have achieved a school milestone. For the first time in school history, the Soaring Falcons made it to the Final Four for three straight years.
“It feels good but we’ve been doing it twice,” said Sean Manganti, who had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the game.
“There’s a higher goal in place.”
“It’s something that we obviously wanted this year but that’s just not our goal,” added Jerrick Ahanmisi, who finished with 13 points built on three triples.
“We’re going to look forward to the next games.”
Even Simon Camacho, who tallied his career-best 15 points, was in no mood to celebrate.
“Last two years, Final Four, pero we are going for a higher goal.”
And who could blame them? For the last two years, the Soaring Falcons have been booted out of the Final Four by the De La Salle Green Archers. In both of those series, they had to fight off a twice-to-beat disadvantage.
This season, the stacked Falcons have a chance to be armed with the playoff incentive. And they are going all-out in their final two games to accomplish this task.
“Hopefully, we can improve our finish for this year,” Pumaren wishes.
