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By MARK REY MONTEJO
University of Santo Tomas leaned on a second half surge as it smothered Adamson, 75-49, to punch a ticket to the Final Four for the first time in five years in UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City Saturday evening, Nov. 16.
The Tigers unleashed their lethal offensive form in the last two quarters with a 33-9 onslaught to rip the game wide open, 67-40, and never looked back on their way to booking one of the last two remaining semifinal tickets with their 7-7 win-loss record.
The win assured them of the third seeding where they will face last year’s finalist and second seed University of the Philippines, which was armed with a twice-to-beat advantage.
De La Salle boasts of the same twice-to-beat bonus with its No. 1 seeding and awaits for the last semifinalist.
Despite the loss, though, Adamson still has a chance to clinch the last semis seat with its 5-8 card if it beats Ateneo (4-9) and if University of the East (6-7) bows to UP next week.
The Tigers went on a shooting spree behind the arc, unloading 13 triples spearheaded by Amiel Acido, who fired four treys to topscore the crew with 14 points.
Nic Cabañero and Kyle Paranada backstopped him with 13 and nine points, respectively, while Mo Tounkara grabbed 14 rebounds along with 11 points and three blocks.
Adamson waxed hot in the opening frame with a 14-3 cushion but UST turned things around with a 29-25 advantage behind the efforts of Gelo Crisostomo, Forthsky Padriagao and Paranada.
From there, the Tigers never relinquished their lead as the Falcons slowly lost their steam.
Mat Montebon rallied with 14 points to become the lone double-digit scorer for Adamson.
The scores:
UST (75) – Acido 14, Cabañero 13, Tounkara 11, Paranada 9, Padrigao 7, Llemit 7, Manaytay 6, Crisostomo 5, Estacio 3, Laure 0, Danting 0, Lane 0, Pangilinan 0.
AdU (49) –Montebon 14, Mantua 9, Anabo 7, Dignadice 5, Yerro 4, Barcelona 4, Fransman 3, Ramos 2, Manzano 1, Erolon 0, Ronzone 0, Ojarikre 0, Calisay 0, Barasi 0, Ignacio 0, Alexander 0.
Quarterscores: 16-18, 29-28, 52-32, 75-49