Adamson, a long-time league doormat in the UAAP, is now ready to mix it up with heavyweight teams in the collegiate ranks.
The Falcons proved that Monday night after giving the Far Eastern University Tamaraws a sound beating, 75-57, in their Elite 8 encounter in the 2010 Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Arena in San Juan Monday.
Austin Manyara of Adamson takes a short jumper over the outstretched arms of Reil Cervantes of FEU during their teams’ Elite 8 encounter. The Falcons beat the Tamaraws, 75-57. GMANews.TVFour players finished in double figures for the Falcons — Janus Lozada, Lester Alvarez, Will Stinett and Eric Camson.
Lozada came away with 16 points, six assists and three rebounds while Alvarez contributed 12 markers.
Stinnet added 11 points and five rebounds while Eric Camson came off the bench and was a rebound away from a double-double.
The 6-foot-5 Camson finished with 10 points and nine boards.
The victory enabled the Falcons to soar their way to the Final Four, where they will meet the La Salle Archers Tuesday. The Archers scored a similar grand upset by beating the favored NCAA champion San Beda Red Lions.
The Falcons were feeling their way around in the first 10 minutes of play. But they went berserk in the second period, unloading a 21-6 bomb to post their first sizeable lead, 37-18, late in the second period.
The Falcons went to the halftime break carrying a 39-21 advantage, and they were never seriously threatened from there.
“We were able to show our composure and level of competitiveness against them today. Everyone knows that they are a very talented team. We kept working hard to beat FEU. Nobody handed this game to us, we worked for it,’’ said Adamson coach Leo Austria.
”Nag-materialize ‘yung execution namin sa mga plays buong laro, plus yung defense namin hindi din nawala,’’ he added.
This will be Adamson’s first Final Four entry in PCCL history.
The Tamaraws, runner-ups to the Ateneo Eagles in the UAAP Finals last October, played lackadaisically.
“It looked like it was not the FEU team we know that we played tonight. I believe they were taking our players for granted, so I told the boys to just continue our offensive sets,” said Austria.
Pipo Noundou had 15 points and nine rebounds while Reil Cervantes came up with a double-double of 10 points and 13 boards for FEU. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV