IN NUMBERS: Adamson Soaring Falcons vs NU Bulldogs – UAAP Season 81

MANILA, Philippines – The Adamson Soaring Falcons lost their last two games of the UAAP Season 81 first round after a roaring 5-0 start.

Meanwhile, quite the opposite, the NU Bulldogs snapped a five-game losing streak to end round one with a rousing win over UE.

Now that these two teams are about to clash, there is only one thing common between them: hunger for one more win.

Season averages:

Fresh off their first round finale loss against La Salle, Adamson captain Sean Manganti was confident that they “beat themselves,” meaning he knew they were good enough to win.

Indeed, Adamson has the tools to be a weekly force in the league.

Bolstered by veterans Jerrick Ahanmisi (19.1 points per game) and Papi Sarr (10.4 PPG), the Falcons are soaring at 2nd in league starter points (50.6 PPG) and 1st in pace (79.22).

While their feared “Pumaren Press” defense is an unquestioned asset, they could use some more offense from their bench guys like Simon Camacho, Jonathan Espeleta and Jerie Pingoy, because they are only 7th in points from the pine (26.3 PPG), only ahead of UP.

On the other end, NU still has more questions than answers with the second round already underway.

The blue-chip upstarts are 2nd to the last in terms of PPG (71.3), 4th in turnovers (15.7) and 6th in pace (77.68).

However, that lack in scoring may soon be fixed as homegrown kid John Lloyd Clemente has turned out to be a late bloomer, dropping a career-high 21 points against UE after being an afterthought in their previous matches.

With NU still housing massive potential recruits like John Galinato and Gilas cadet Joshua Sinclair, their 2-5 record should not be taken lightly. Surely, Adamson is fully aware of what’s in store. – Rappler.com