One call can change the complexion of a game. And the young Adamson University Soaring Falcons were on the wrong end of it, Thursday evening.
With two minutes and 33 seconds left in their game against Far Eastern University, Adamson was clinging to a 62-56 lead.
Jerom Lastimosa was trying to set up the Soaring Falcons offense but was heavily guarded by the Tamaraws. The young guard lost the ball before picking it up near the halfcourt line.
Suddenly, a whistle blew. The ref right in front of the play called a backcourt violation. Replays though showed that the play should have continued.
It resulted in a 7-0 blitz that gave the Tamaraws a 63-62 lead with 39 seconds left.
In the end, the Soaring Falcons lost the game, 66-65.
Of course, Racela could not help but feel bad for his team but opted to keep mum on the call.
“Ang hirap kasi maraming magsasabi na umaangal ako sa referee but you saw what happened in the game. You are in the better position to answer that question,” Racela said when pressed about the incident.
Still, Racela opted to look at the bright side of things.
Lastimosa gave Adamson the lead with a deep triple with 20.9 seconds left only for RJ Abarrientos to answer right back with a top-of-the-key trey with nine seconds left.
Lastimosa had a chance to steal the game but his three-point attempt missed as time expired.
It’s another heartbreak for Adamson who was just coming off a 73-71 loss to University of the Philippines just two days ago.
For Racela, these heartbreaks will only motivate the Soaring Falcons even more.
“We could have been 4-2. If you want to look at the bright side of things, we could’ve been 4-2 but we lost a couple of close games,” he said.
“The good thing about is three of those games, we took the last shot so we had a chance of stealing the game. So we just have to make it I guess in the next games.”
—
All UAAP games stream live on GigaPlay presented by Yamaha. Download it now on Android or IOS.
