After ‘wild’ route to Final Four, Falcons hope to pull off one more surprise
Early in the season, Adamson coach Nash Racela figured out that the last Final Four spot of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament was up for grabs.
But after needing a playoff for that last berth, Racela changed his mind.
“It wasn’t really that open. If you see the rankings, I think NU (National University) and UST (University of Santo Tomas) [could’ve been] the three and four teams,” Racela told the Inquirer after completing the semifinal cast with a 68-55 trouncing of University of the East on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
It was as long a route as anyone could have taken to the semifinals. But Racela will take it anyway.
“UE was actually almost taking advantage of that but I guess what’s good is we had three [wins in the first round] and three [wins in the second round] so we had a chance,” Racela said.
“Isn’t it wild?”
So was the celebration after the Falcons finally fended off the Red Warriors behind the likes of Matthew Montebon and Cedrick Manzano. Montebon hit clutch shots to deflate UE’s late rally on the way to 13 points and six assists while Manzano was solid all game long with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
But they have to make a quick turnaround.
Not easy
For the Falcons, this will feel like swimming across a river with strong currents to reach the safety of the opposite bank only to find crocodiles lying in wait.
Adamson faces defending champion and tournament top seed La Salle in the Final Four, needing to win twice in a row to advance to the Finals.
That’s not an easy task considering the Archers won both their games against the Falcons by a combined 55 points. And La Salle has lost only two times so far this season.
“As a coach, I am kind of already used to [being the underdog], but I just have to guide our players. The others said this is something you can’t [achieve because] only [a few Adamson players] have some experience [in big games]. But you just have to guide them, push them a little more to be ready,” he said.
As ready, perhaps, as they were against UE, which gave Adamson all it could handle.
“We needed that [knockout game], then we got another [challenge to face]. We struggled and so we took advantage of that little opening; we did our part I guess,” Racela said.
Adamson has been known to limit their opponents to low scores hugely because of their defense that continues to bother opposing teams. UE was unable to solve that puzzle and made just 32.3 percent of its shots.
Help from NZ
But what has been helping the Falcons, who will be coming to the next round riding back-to-back wins, is their improved passing that’s allowing scorers to get open looks. Against the Warriors, Adamson shot 41.3 percent.
“[Our] shooting percentage is connected to [our] number of assists. [Our players] are shooting better because they are getting open looks,” Racela said. “[It’s a] good thing that New Zealand came [to play Gilas Pilipinas recently] because I told them if you’re a basketball follower, you should appreciate how New Zealand plays, the patience, the discipline so hopefully they saw that.”
“I think they [watched the game] so maybe that’s why they applied [what they saw] to their game,” he said.
And like their unexpected climb to the top, the Falcons will be looking to pull off another escape act in the playoffs.
“Credit to the players because they were able to reach the Final Four so hopefully we still have some surprises,” Racela said with a hearty laugh.
