Falcons untouched on top; Eagles win

MANILA, Philippines — Never short on supply of heroes, pacesetting Adamson turned to someone outside its “Big Three” of Sean Manganti, Jerrick Ahanmisi and Papi Sarr in setting the stage for its fifth consecutive victory in UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tourney.

Shock-trooper Simon Camacho stepped forward and dropped all of his eight points in a crucial stretch to spark the Falcons to a 63-58 disposal of National U yesterday.

The Falcons stayed alone at the top, maintaining a one-win gap against surging Ateneo, which is close by at 4-1.

The Blue Eagles, firing from all cylinders and never letting up, extended their unbeaten run to four games after dealing Santo Tomas a heavy 85-53 beating, the worst under the Aldin Ayo era.

Camacho’s personal 8-2 assault restored for the Falcons a fresh 53-43 cushion against the rallying Bulldogs going to the final 6:38 and from there, Manganti, Sarr and Ahanmisi took over for the mop-up job.

“I’m telling the players when the opportunity arises and the door is open, might as well enter and close the door. I guess it’s what he’s doing,” said AdU coach Franz Pumaren of the heads-up play of Camacho, who also accounted for five rebounds, three blocks, one assist and one steal to backstop Manganti (14), Sarr (11) and Ahanmisi (11).

“I’m just doing my job. Ginagawa lang yung role na binibigay sa akin ni coach and dumating yung game sa akin,” said Camacho.

“Simon is one of those guys that don’t get enough credit. He does all the things that don’t show in the stat sheet. He’s one of our guys who’s pretty important to our team,” said Manganti, hero of AdU’s previous 69-68 thriller over University of the Philippines who sealed yesterday’s W with two cold-bloodied charities in the last 14.2 seconds.

Pumaren, however, rued his wards’ selfish plays and erratic ways.

“We’re lucky to survive another ambush. We made a lot of mistakes and made it difficult on our part. It was our defense which kept us afloat, holding down NU to 58 points,” he said.

The scores:

First Game

AdU 63 – Manganti 14, Ahanmisi 11, Sarr 11, Camacho 8, Espeleta 4, Lastimosa 4, Zaldivar 4, Mojica 3, Bernardo 2, Colonia 2, Catapusan 0, V. Magbuhos 0, Pingoy 0.

NU 58 – D. Ildefonso 14, Joson 11, Rike 8, S. Ildefonso 6, Morido 6, Galinato 4, Yu 3, Clemente 2, Tibayan 2, Diputado 0, Gallego 0, Sinclair 0.

Quarterscores: 11-10, 26-21, 43-35, 63-58

Second Game

AdMu 85 – Kouame 20, Ravena 11, Asistio 8, Go 8, Belangel 7, Mi, Nieto 6, Ma. Nieto 5, Daves 4, Tio 4, Andrade 3, Wong 3, Black 2, Mamuyac 2, Navarro 2, Mendoza 0.

UST 53 – Subido 19, Cansino 15, Akomo 9, Huang 6, Lee 2, Mahinay 2, Agusin 0, Bataller 0, Lagumen 0, Marcos 0, Zamora 0, Consejo 0.

Quarterscores: 19-10, 37-18, 61-35, 85-53