Adamson rallies past feisty Maroons, stays perfect

MANILA, Philippines – Adamson stood just seconds away from seeing its perfect run come to an end. 

But Sean Manganti came to the rescue as the Falcons escaped the UP Maroons by the slimmest of margins, 69-68, to stay unbeaten in four games in the UAAP Season 81 on Wednesday, September 26  at the FilOil Flying V Centre. 

Manganti flung up a contested floater with 0.7 second left to ice the game for Adamson.

Just seconds earlier, the Maroons snatched the lead with Bright Akhuetie burying a putback with 5.7 ticks left. 

“Everybody can say it was just a lucky win for us or a huge shot by Sean. But basically if you look at the whole game, we were trailing 75% of the game,” said Adamson coach Franz Pumaren. “The boys showed their poise, they showed that we didn’t panic despite the runs that UP made.”

Entering the 4th down 10, Adamson stormed back to inch within 1, 64-65, courtesy off a Jerrick Ahanmisi triple with 2:22 left, off a bad pass by Jun Manzo.

Jonathan Espeleta then seized back the lead off a huge corner triple, 66-65, with less than 2 minutes remaining.

However, with 5.7 seconds left, Akhuetie collected a Paul Desiderio airball for the go-ahead putback, 68-67, before Manganti responded with the game clincher.

Manganti led with 18 points while Ahanmisi added 15 for the Falcons, who strengthened their hold of the solo lead.

“We cannot just think that the other team will just roll over and hand us the game. UP really prepared well for us and I anticipated that for us, a bounce-back game for them,” said Pumaren.

UP skidded to its third straight loss after an opening-day win. 

The Maroons had looked poised for a major upset win behind Juan Gomez de Liaño, who fired 21 points, and Bright Akhuetie, who posted a huge double-double of 20 points and 20 rebounds.

“We allowed UP to dictate the game, we drifted away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We were kinda selfish. We were probably reading too much on social media that we’re great already,” said Pumaren.

After yet another listless start, UP rebounded and exploded out of halftime with a massive 22-8 run to open the 3rd with a 50-38 lead. The Maroons kept a comfortable double-digit for the rest of the period, ending at 57-47 heading to the 4th. 

The Scores

Adamson 69 — Manganti 18, Ahanmisi 15, Sarr 11, Espeleta 10, Pingoy 9, Camacho 2, Lastimosa 2, V. Magbuhos 2, Bernardo 0, Catapusan 0, Colonia 0, Mojica 0.

UP 68 — Ju. Gomez de Liano 21, Akhuetie 20, Ja. Gomez de Liano 7, Desiderio 6, Manzo 6, Murrell 4, Jaboneta 2, Prado 2, Dario 0, Gozum 0, Lim 0, Tungcab 0, Vito 0.

Quarters: 24-16, 30-28, 47-57, 69-68.

– Rappler.com