ADAMSON University needed two overtimes to upend gritty University of Santo Tomas, 81-76, in the 73rd UAAP men’s basketball tournament Sunday night.
Down by three in the dying seconds, veteran Janus Lozada lifted the Soaring Falcons from an imminent loss when he sank a triple with 3.8 ticks left to force a second five-minute extension to the delight of Adamson fans, 70-70.
The Soaring Falcons then went steadier in the last five minutes, setting off a three-point play from American recruit William Stinnett and Jan Colina, who unloaded four of his six-
point output down the stretch.
Defensive stops of Adamson pushed the Growling Tigers to the sidelines as Roider Cabrera split his charities off a Carmelo Afuang foul with Colina scoring for the lost ball to end
the two-and-a-half hour contest.
The win solidified Adamson’s bid for a place in the illustrious Final Four, which was last clinched by a Ken Bono-led squad in 2006.
“Well it’s really hard to win this contest but in this game, our biggest enemy is complacency because after listing big games against La Salle and FEU (Far Eastern University), there is a tendency to relax. I told my boys after the FEU game to work harder in practice but I think I was wrong on that note because they were obviously tired,” said mentor Leo Austria.
“However, we are fortunate that during the overtime, the boys did not give up, which is good because this is something that we really need in time for the playoffs, he added.
Lozada posted a career-high 19 points, five rebounds, two steals and one assist for Adamson while Chris Camus paced the Tigers with impressive 17 markers and 14 boards.
Adamson now totes a 7-2 (win-loss) card at solo second while UST suffered its fourth straight loss to end at sixth place (3-6).(Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)