The Soaring Falcons fired threes to come back and pull away as they had enough buffer points to buck a final quarter rally by the Green Archers to annex 3rd place going to the Final Four stages.
By: Geoff Latayan
The Adamson University Soaring Falcons rallied from 12 points down early on and controlled the rest of the game hitting triples to outsteady the De La Salle University Green Archers, 69-64 in the main event of the UAAP Season 73 Thursday doubleheader, Sept. 9 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Lionel Manyara was also solid for the Soaring Falcons as he tallied a career-best 17 rebounds and 11 points along with three assists and two blocks to lead the team to its ninth win in 14 games and end up third in the double round robin eliminations.
Manyara, who is a horrible free throw shooter this season, converted on two clutch free throws to give Adamson a 66-61 advantage in the closing seconds of the game.
Down 6-18 in the first quarter, the Soaring Falcons fired 12 unanswered points to tie it at 18, 8:21 left before halftime, on Alex Nuyles’ triple.
Then, perimeter hitter Roider Cabrera cashed in on a three to give the Soaring Falcons their first taste of the lead, 27-26, 2:17 remaining in the second. Cabrera would hit another three to break the tie as both teams go to their lockers for halftime.
If you think Adamson is done with the onslaught, think again as two more threes from Allen Etrone and Cabrera sparked an 8-0 early third quarter splurge to give them an 11 point lead, 41-30.
As La Salle was closing in, 38-42, Jerick Cañada’s triple brought the lead up to seven and when they had a 51-43 lead, Cañada hit another three and Nuyles launched another three bomb off the glass and went in for a 57-43 headway at the start of the fourth.
The Green Archers would cut the lead to six, 51-57 as they scored eight unanswered points on a putback of Almond Vosotros and back to back threes by Sam Marata.
However, Etrone, who finished the game with a career high eight points, hit another three over Spider Webb to give the Soaring Falcons a nine point lead, 60-51, 6:10 remaining.
La Salle would again knock at Adamson’s door as they chopped the lead to three 61-64 when Jovet Mendoza scored on an alley-oop off a Vosotros assist, 1:18 left.
Misses and crucial turnovers hurt the young but feisty Green Archers in the last minute of the game, which gave Adamson five more points on free throws of Manyara, Alvarez and Nuyles.
Vosotros, who led the Green Archers with 13 points, scored a triple to cut the lead to five when time expired.
With the win, the Soaring Falcons will face the second place team, which will be decided in the FEU-ADMU game Saturday.
As for the Green Archers, who fell to 8-6, they will be facing the first place team, who will be twice to beat like the second placers.
Five Keys:
- Seniors clamped down offensively. The defense of Adamson limited veteran Green Archers Simon Atkins, Ferdinand, Joshua Webb and Maui Villanueva to a combined 10 points. It was only Mendoza who clicked offensively among the veterans with eight points.
- 11 3’s did the trick. The Soaring Falcons kept on bombing threes against La Salle and they connected. Cabrera had three. Lester Alvarez, Nuyles, Cañada and Etrone had two each to confuse the Green Archers in defending the perimeter.
- Transition might. Adamson did what nobody can do against La Salle. Limiting them to zero fastbreak points is a big achievement against a team who is known as one of the leaders in fastbreak points because of their A defense (full court press).
- Zone play. Again, the Soaring Falcons used this weapon to limit La Salle and it worked. After scoring 18 points in eight minutes, La Salle managed just 25 in the next 22. Props for Adamson defense for this crucial ploy.
- Austin stunner. Manyara stunned La Salle and its bigs with his solid play in the paint. He had a field day for this game as he blocked, he rebounded and he scored over Lasallian defenders, who are known to be this season’s top rebounding team.
