After being plagued with fouls in the first half, Sean Manganti unleashed a fury on the University of the East Red Warriors, towing the Adamson University Soaring Falcons to a victory on Wednesday afternoon at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
This is the first time the Adamson Men’s Basketball Team have started their season with a 2-0 record since 2003. And it came at the expense of UE, who dropped to 0-2.
Manganti, who only had five points in the first half, finished with a career-high 27 points. The athletic 6-foot-5 forward was slapped with two early fouls in the first half, limiting him to just three minutes in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
However, third-year Soaring Falcons head coach Franz Pumaren was disappointed with the flat start of his team, especially after their scintillating debut against the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
“Well nothing against UE but we made it a very difficult game on our part,” rued Pumaren. “I guess some of the guys coming into this game, the mentality is that UE’s just gonna roll over and give the ball to us but it’s different.”
Fortunately for Adamson, Papi Sarr and Jerrick Ahanmisi provided the spark, as Ahanmisi scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half while Sarr hauled down 11 rebounds during that same span. Sarr finished the game with 15 points and 21 rebounds.
In the third frame, Manganti went on a rampage, scoring 12 points during that stanza. A three-pointer by Jonathan Espeleta with 1:24 left, gave Adamson an imposing 67-47 lead.
“I think they should look at it in a different perspective that here in the UAAP, last game doesn’t count, record doesn’t count. At any given time, every team can outdo the opposing team,” Pumaren rued.
Despite the one-man effort of Alvin Pasaol, the lead would only go to as low as 11 points the rest of the way.
Simon Camacho also had himself a game for Adamson, finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds.
If Adamson was able to get production from four veteran players, UE could not get any outside of Pasaol. The UE star finished with 36 points, shot 33 attempts in the game – half of the total for UE. He grabbed 11 rebounds as well.
Lead floor general Jerie Pingoy did not play in the game, as he arrived at the venue late.
Adamson will next face the Univesity of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Saturday, September 22, at SMART Araneta Coliseum. UE, on the other hand, take on the De La Salle University Green Archers on Sunday, September 23, at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Scores:
ADU 90 — Manganti 27, Ahanmisi 17, Sarr 15, Camacho 8, Espeleta 8, Lastimosa 5, Colonia 4, Bernardo 2, Catapusan 2, Mojica 2, V. Magbuhos 0, Zaldivar 0.
UE 76 — Pasaol 36, Strait 10, Bartolome 7, Beltran 7, Varilla 7, Cullar 6, Manalang 3, Gagate 0, Antiporda 0, Sobrevega 0, Connor 0, Acuno 0.
Quarterscores: 23-18, 42-32, 67-52, 90-76.
