Lester Alvarez of AdU gets past the defense of UST guard Jeric Fortuna. (Vyn Radovan/FCF)

Games Thursday (July 28, 2011)
Philsports Arena
1:00pm – Adamson vs. East
3:00pm – National vs. De La Salle

GAME SUMMARY

FINAL
(2 – 1)		(2 – 1)
71 – 81
QUARTERS 1 2 3 4 SANTO TOMAS 5 24 19 23 ADAMSON 18 26 22 17
STATISTICAL LEADERS POINTS UST Teng 15 ADU Lozada 21 REBOUNDS UST Abdul 10 ADU Camson 7 ASSISTS UST Ferrer 4 ADU Cañada 6
KEY STATS UST ADU FG (PCT) – 1st Qtr. 2/13 (15%) 7/14 (50%) 3PT FIELD GOALS (PCT) 2/14 (14%) 8/20 (40%) TURNOVER POINTS 21 11

Anchored by a swift start to the ballgame, Adamson University deal University of Santo Tomas their first taste of defeat this 74th UAAP season by a count of 81-71 on Sunday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

With an 18-5 blitz to put the game out of hand early, the Soaring Falcons looked like the squad that was seen as a heavy title contender this season.

The first and last time UST led was in the first quarter, after starting center Chris Camus scored after a steal. Soon, it was followed by the Adamson blitz led by Alex Nuyles and Janus Lozada who scattered 8 and 6 points respectively in a relentless four minute stretch.

Coach Pido Jarencio’s wards had a miserable time shooting the basketball, making 2 out of 13 shots during the entire 10 minutes.

UST tried to play catch-up the rest of the way, but could not bring down the huge discrepancy to less than nine points by the final minutes of the ballgame.

Leading the scoring for the Soaring Falcons was Janus Lozada with a career-high 21 points. Eric Camson and Alex Nuyles put up 19 and 16 respectively. Camson also had a team-leading 7 rebounds and Nuyles shot 4/6 from the three-point line.

Jeric Teng contributed 15 points for the Tigers, while Melo Afuang put up 14. Karim Abdul went double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.

Both Adamson and UST are now tied in the middle of the pack with identical 2-1 cards.

Leo Austria’s wards will face a potentially dangerous University of the East on Thursday, while Santo Tomas will have a tough task ahead in trying to bounce back against Far Eastern University in Saturday’s main game.

Game photos can be found here.

BOX SCORES
ADAMSON (81): Lozada 21, Camson 19, Nuyles 16, Alvarez 11, Manyara 5, Colina 4, Etrone 3, Cañada 2, Petilos 0, Brondial 0, Cabrera 0
SANTO TOMAS (71): Teng 15, Afuang 14, Abdul 13, Ferrer 9, Fortuna 8, Camus 8, Pe 2, Vigil 1, Lo 1, Tan, 0, Sheriff 0
Quarters: 16-5, 42-29, 64-48, 81-71