Streak over but Adamson Falcons show no quit in them

Adamson head coach Franz Pumaren likes how his team showed 'a sense of character'

JR Isaga

Published 6:09 PM, October 08, 2018

Updated 6:09 PM, October 08, 2018

SILVER LINING. Franz Pumaren is rather pleased with how the Adamson Soaring Falcons have learned to mount comebacks. Photo by Josh Albelda/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – The Adamson Soaring Falcons' perfect run may have come to an end, but leave it to multi-titled UAAP coach Franz Pumaren to not worry about such things.

"In hindsight, if you look at the other side of the coin, we lost the game, yeah. But if you look at the old Adamson, if we’re down 14 or 15, probably we'll end up losing by 20 or 25," he said.

"But this time around, it showed a sense of character with my team right now. We can make a comeback. We just have to make sure that it's 40 to 45 minutes of really good basketball."

The Falcons dropped their first game of the season to the FEU Tamaraws in an 88-85 overtime thriller on Sunday, October that ended their best start in decades.

However, the Falcons still showed why they're the early leaders after climbing their way from a 17-point deficit late in the 3rd quarter.

Pumaren's wards showed that against them, no lead is safe as the trio of Jerrick Ahanmisi, Sean Manganti and Simon Camacho conspired to win back the game in the face of grave odds.

Ahanmisi showed why he's the league's top shooter, finishing with 21 points on a 4-of-11 (36%) shooting from downtown and 6 rebounds

Manganti stuffed the statsheet as well with 20 markers, 6 boards, 4 steals, 3 dimes and a block while Camacho rounded them out with a 10-point, 11-board double-double with 8 points coming in the 4th frame alone.

Although downcast, Ahanmisi also noted the Falcons' revelatory comeback abilities.

"I think that showed something in our team," he said. "Like the past few games against UP and NU, we were down but we never gave up. That's what we showed in this game."

"The execution was fine, it's just that we didn't convert the shots that we were taking," he continued. "If we converted some of those, things would have changed."

The Soaring Falcons are raring for revenge in their next game against the La Salle Green Archers, their Final Four tormentors who have eliminated them in two straight playoff runs.

FEU may have won the battle, but Adamson showed it's ready for war. – Rappler.com