Falcons, Eagles soar to Elite 8

MANILA, Philippines - Adamson torched an undermanned San Sebastian side from the outside and came away with a 65-54 win for a spot in the Elite 8 of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Defending champion Ateneo reasserted its mastery over regular Sweet 16 victim Lyceum, 76-66, in the other contest to likewise advance to the next stage.

Justin Chua scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Eagles, after squandering leads of as many as 21 points, quashed the Pirates’ final uprising en route to a quarterfinal berth against Mapua.

It was the third straight time that Ateneo dispatched Lyceum in the Sweet 16 stage of the tournament that features the top teams of the country’s biggest collegiate leagues.

Janus Lozada pumped in five of the Soaring Falcons’ nine triples overall as Adamson advanced to the quarterfinals against 73rd UAAP runner-up Far Eastern U.

“This is the kind of game wherein it’s very difficult to motivate the players. They knew they had the edge over an opponent who missed nearly half of their team. So I had to keep reminding them never to underestimate San Sebastian,” AdU coach Leo Austria in Filipino.

Now handled by interim coach Eric Gascon in lieu of current San Miguel coach Ato Agustin, the Stags reported for duty with only eight players. Missing on the bench were Mythical 5 member Calvin Abueva, Ronald Pascual, Jonathan Semira, Reynaldo Gorospe, and Dave Najorda.