Baby Falcons' Sabandal urges team to dig deep for 2nd round

MANILA, Philippines – While all the talk this UAAP juniors season has been the pace-setting National University Bullpups, defending champions Ateneo Blue Eaglets, and the RJ Abarrientos-powered FEU Baby Tamaraws, sneaking in under the radar are the Adamson Baby Falcons.

Ironically, the Baby Falcons sport a 5-2 record — the same as FEU and Ateneo. But by virtue of losses to the latter two, they are at fourth place in the race for the Final Four.

But the Baby Falcons scored the biggest upset of Season 81 when they took down NU, 62-59, behind Adrian “Ap” Manlapaz’s two game-saving blocks and Joem Sabandal’s double-double performance.

This second round, the Baby Falcons hope to continue their push for a Final Four slot while trying to eke out a win against the top three squads.

“It was frustrating that we had a chance to win a championship in Season 79 but were not able to,” said Sabandal, who paces Adamson. “Even if I played only five to 10 minutes that season, I would have been happy to win it.”

The Adamson team paced the league before the league declared then-star Encho Serrano as ineligible to play. The result saw Adamson fall from first place to last.

The fallout saw then head coach Goldwyn Monteverde defect to NU with many of his teammates. Forthsky Padrigao went back to Ateneo (he studied in Ateneo de Zamboanga) while Serrano waited out a few years before going to De La Salle for college. The only ones left from that Season 79 team were Adam Doria and Sabandal.

In Season 80, Sabandal took charge of the team leading them in points (16.1) and assists (5.9).

This Season 81, Sabandal doesn’t have to carry the load as much although he does pace the team in scoring with 14.3 points while adding 2.7 assists. 

Joseph Podrigo and Jake Engbino have helped out in the playmaking chores with both combining for 6.2 assists. Manlapaz is the other player in double digit scoring with 10.8 per game. 

As the Baby Falcons look to tip-off the second round, Sabandal has reminded his teammates of what they can achieve if they step up.

“Before theNU game, ni-remind ko teammates ko na labanan lang ng pride to kasi since last year pati sa mga summer leagues hindi pa namin sila natatalo,” shared Sabandal.  “Para saamin, this is a chance to beat one of the strongest teams in high school in thecountry. From starters to bench madaming nag-step up. Before din ng game kahit anong sulat wala kang makikita sa board. In-emphasize niya lang sa amin ni Coach Mike (Fermin) that it is important that magtiwala kami sa mga sarili namin. Kaya siguro that game we have that mindset na di na kami basta basta magpapatalo.”

Looking into their second round, Sabandal feels that the team is at 70 percent of its capability. “We're almost there but we also need to work harder. Sabi nga sa amin ng mga coaches lagi na huwag makuntento. Marami pa kami kailangan i-improve and may mga teams pa kaming kailangan talunin.”

“Our goal is to fight for any of the top two seeds (that bring with them a twice-to-beat advantage come the Final Four). We know it’s hard but we will keep on working hard for our goals. We have to remember how we played NU in the first round, but raise the level of our game.”

The Adamson Baby Falcons kick start their second round with a match against FEU at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the Filoil Flying V Centre.