Adamson frustrates UE, arrests five-game slump

Adamson University snapped its five-game losing streak at the expense of Final Four-seeking University of the East, 45-37, in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.

The Soaring Falcons not only earned their first win in the second round of the season to improve with a 4-7 slate, but also stalled the Red Warriors’ berth back to the semifinal in 15 years.

AJ Fransman registered a career-high 14 points and even flirted with a double-double after grabbing nine rebounds in the victory. 

Matt Erolon, for his part, caught fire in the first half and drilled four triples to eventually finish with a similar 14-point outing in the low-scoring affair. 

Adamson and UE remained almost at a stalemate at the end of the third quarter, 33-32, before the Soaring Falcons pulled away for good following Fransman’s back-to-back bomb from long distance, 43-32, with 5:57 to play. 

The game saw the Red Warriors wind up blank in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter before John Abate finally found the scoring touch for his side at the 4:05 mark off a layup to cut down the deficit to a single-digit, 43-34. 

Before Precious Momowei could follow it up with another basket at the last minute, Cedrick Manzano responded with a floater in between UE's only two field goals of the final quarter as the game continued to see a shortage of familiar offensive help from both sides. 

“Of course, we're thankful that we won. We thought October was a ghost month, we almost went zero win for the month of October, so it’s good that we’re able to get the win towards the end of the month,” said Adamson head coach Nash Racela.

“This is something that we really need. I'd say our players were doing their part even with those losses that we had, that five straight losses that we had, but for us we wanted to just continue on doing the right things and eventually you'll get that win,” he added.

Momowei paced the Red Warriors with 12 points on a 5-of-13 shooting clip in 38 minutes of action. 

Devin Fikes and Abate had nine and eight points, respectively, in the defeat. 

The Red Warriors dropped 6-4 in the standings and moved two steps back from their first Final Four seat since Season 82.

Scores:

Adamson 45 – Erolon 14, Fransman 14, Manzano 12, Montebon 3, Anabo 2, Calisay 0, Ramos 0, Yerro 0, Barasi 0, Mantua 0, Ojarikre 0.

UE 37 – Momowei 12, Fikes 9, Abate 8, Lingolingo 5, Maga 2, Spandonis 1, J. Cruz-Dumont 0, Galang 0, H. Cruz-Dumont 0, Mulingtapang 0, Finney 0, Wilson 0, Malaga 0, Go 0, Robles 0.

Quarters: 13-12, 22-19, 33-32, 45-37.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News