Adamson Falcons, who lost to the Far Eastern University Tamaraws last Wednesday, are expected to quickly bounce back when they meet the La Salle Green Archers at 4 p.m. today in the 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Falcons coach Franz Pumaren has a lot of faith in the team even if they bowed to the Tams, 85-88, in overtime. They are going for their sixth win in seven games at the end of the first round.
Pumaren knows that his squad is one of the teams to beat this time around.
For Pumaren, the challenge for the Falcons is for them to stick to the game plan for at least three-fourths of the game.
“The old Adamson, if we’re down fourteen or fifteen, we’ll lose by twenty to twenty-five points. But this time around, it showed the sense of character of every member of my team right now. We can make a comeback,” said Pumaren.
He added that playing forty to forty-five minutes of good basketball will allow the Falcons to get past their coming opponents.
“That’s what we showed in this game (against FEU). Even though this team is down, we will never give up on our game,” said Pumaren.
La Salle, which has a 3-3 win-loss record and in fourth place is reeling from one of their worst losses to the Ateneo Blue Eagles after their 55-71 setback last week.
The Green Archers finished with season-lows in scoring, field goal percentage (29 percent), points in the paint (28), perimeter points (11), assists (3), blocks (3) and points off turnovers (2).
And they also had a season-high 28 turnovers.
Earlier, the University of the East Warriors (1-5) will clash with the National University Bulldogs at 2 p.m.