It’s been two years since Ben Adamos played in an NCAA-sanctioned contest.
The 6-foot-6 big man out of Legazpi City, Bicol sat out the past year as he transferred from San Beda to Perpetual Help.
And in his first game back, Adamos felt rusty during the first 10 minutes of the contest.
“Yun nga, nung first quarter, nadapa pa ako sa court,” he quipped.
“Nanibago talaga ako kasi dalawang taon ako nawala.
“Pero nung second quarter, nung napagpawisan na ako, okay na. Medyo nakuha ko na yung feel sa court at naka-execute na,” added Adamos, who had an average of 4.03 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in his first two years in the league.
But when Adamos got his footing, he was a force for Perpetual. He tallied eight points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks in 34 minutes of game time to help Perpetual to an 80-78 win over Mapua.
And yes, those 34 minutes were the most he has played in three years.
“Binibiro ko yung teammates ko kanina, sabi ko sa mga teammates ko, para kong aasthmahin e. Kaya sabi ko, paghihirapan ko na makundisyon bago yung next game namin,” he said.
Those numbers though are far from the 17.9 points, 16.3 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks Eze posted in his final year, Frankie Lim knew from the start that it will be tough for anyone to at least product half of those numbers every game.
“Well, si Prince is giving us 20-20. Hindi ko naman inii-small yung performance niya today but in order to get yung 20-20 na yun, it should be a team effort,” Lim said.
“Kailangan lahat may ambag. HIndi ka puwede pumasok ng wala kang ambag.”
“Last training namin, nung huling araw namin, tinanong ako ni Coach Melo [Lim], ‘Ano Ben, naprepressure ka ba?’ Sabi ko, ‘HIndi coach, regular game lang.’ Kasi ayoko talagang nastrestress e,” recalled Adamos. “Kasi minsan hindi ako makatulog. Pero sabi bigla ni coach [Frankie] na si Prince yung pinalitan mo, kailangan mong gumawa.
“Nagawan ko naman ng tulong team ko.”
Though not pressured to produce like Eze, Adamos is out to prove one thing — that he deserves to start for any team.
“Hundred-percent na iproprove ko sa lahat na deserve ko talaga na deserve ko maglaro sa basketball.”
