By Jun Ray Navarres
Ray Allen Torres sank a clutch 3-pointer in the dying seconds to lift Adamson University to a thrilling 62-59 victory over the University of the Philippines in the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
With the game tied at 59, the former UP Integrated School standout channeled his inner NBA’s sharp shooter Ray Allen, isolating Gerry Abadiano and draining the dagger three to mark their first win of the season.
“‘Yong last play kasi sabi dalhin lang ni Matty (Erolon) ‘yong bola sa gitna and then last five seconds ibigay sa akin pero nung nasa akin na ‘yong bola, block out na lahat, tinanggal ko lahat ng emotions ko, nag-focus lang ako sa tira ko,” explained Torres.
Prior to the winning three, it was a tight ball game between last season’s Final Four teams – as no team led more than five in the first three quarters.
For coach Nash Racela, the tight game was exactly what he expected saying, “During halftime, that’s what we told the players, we have to grind this game out, that was really expected. From start to finish dikdikan.”
The Soaring Falcons just started to break away from the Fighting Maroons at the payoff period, 49-39 but UP slowly crawled back to even the game at 57 after a split free throw from Abadiano.
Anthony Fransman put Adamson ahead 59-57 after brushing off Jacob Bayla in an isolation play with 37.4sec left.
The Fighting Maroons called for a time out to which Abadiano, Gani Stevens, and Harold Alarcon executed the play perfectly to tie the ball game, 59-59 with only 22.2 ticks remaining.
And then Torres happened.
“This first week is very challenging for us. Hopefully, we play well on Sunday,” said Racela.
Torres finished the night with 10 points similar to Fransman production while Cedrick Manzano and Mathew Montebon contributed eight points each.
Abadiano led UP with 15 points, while Alarcon and Stevens combined for 22 points.
Adamson hopes to follow their win against the searing hot Ateneo on Sunday while UP will try to redeem themselves against UE on the same day.
Featured image courtesy of UAAP Media Bureau
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