The ‘Nightmare Press’ finally overcame Mayhem.
The veterans of the Adamson University were put to the test by the rookie-laden University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers. But the senior Soaring Falcons were able to show poise in the end against the upstart UST squad to take a 79-71 victory, Saturday afternoon at the SMART Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
“I’ve been stressing that there won’t be an easy game for us after defeating the defending champs,” said third-year Soaring Falcons head coach Franz Pumaren.
Adamson kept their slate unblemished in three games while dropping UST to a 1-2 record. Moreover, this is Franz Pumaren’s first win over an Aldin Ayo-coached squad.
But the Soaring Falcons entered the game with a handicap, as Papi Sarr was sick and Sean Manganti was nursing a minor sprain. Sarr finished with just four points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes of game time, while Manganti – who tallied a career-high 27 points against the UE Red Warriors last Wednesday – went scoreless.
That is why Adamson needed to stick together to overcome UST.
“Well, siguro, one thing I can say is my bench players proved that they are capable of stepping up. Papi is not one-hundred percent, same thing with Sean. But even if they had a bad night, I think this is one game that we can say that we played as a team,” shared Pumaren.
Third-year sniper Jerrick Ahanmisi led the Soaring Falcons with 21 points. Vince Magbuhos tallied a career-high 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
“I think it was a good test for us and show how well we play as a team. Down the stretch we played really well,” said Ahanmisi.
With the Soaring Falcons clinging to a 61-60 lead with 7:55 left, they stayed true in their system, pressing and startling the young Tigers. Kristian Bernardo had a huge hand in Adamson’s 7-0 rally, scoring five points during that run to end with seven points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Though rookies CJ Cansino and the Growling Tigers tried to fight back, Adamson’s experience proved to be too much.
UST committed a season-high 27 turnovers. The previous-high was 21 when Adamson faced the Ateneo Blue Eagles on opening day.
Cansino paced UST with 18 points. Marvin Lee added 16 markers, spiked by four triples.
Adamson look to make it four-zero when they face the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons on Wednesday, September 26. UST, on the other hand, will have a week-long break before taking on the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles on Saturday, September 29. Both games will be played at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Scores:
ADU 79 – Ahanmisi 20, Magbuhos 15, Espeleta 12, Camacho 9, Bernardo 7, Lastimosa 6, Sarr 4, Pingoy 4, Catapusan 2, Manganti 0, Colonia 0, Mojica 0
UST 71 – Cansino 18, Lee 16, Subido 8, Akomo 8, Cosejo 6, Marcos 4, Huang 4, Zamora 3, Lagumen 2, Mahinay 2, Caunan 0
Quarterscores: 20-18, 38-31, 58-54, 79-71
