UE ESCAPES LOSING STREAK AFTER WINNING AGAINST ADAMSON
By Maxine Louise Lagman
2 October 2016
IT WAS an emotional time for the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors as they finally notched their first win in the UAAP Season’s first round against Adamson University (AdU), 64-57 on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Former champion coaches and brothers Derrick and Franz Pumaren faced off for the first time in the season. Both tried their hardest to drive their teams to a victorious win, but only older brother Derrick succeeded.
“It was a hard-earned win. When we were up by five points with six minutes in the fourth, I told them not to celebrate. There is still an eternity of basketball. We just have to close the game, and we finally did closed it out,” said UE Coach Derrick Pumaren.
Four minutes passed by in the fourth period with no Falcons scoring until Rob Manalang’s layup. However, it was too late for them to turn the game back to their side, as the Red Warriors was determined to take home their first victory in the season.
Adamson was already owning the game in the first half as UE trailed behind their double digit lead in the opening of the third. When finally, UE took control of the game in the fourth and outscored Adamson, 24-12 which sealed their win.
The Red Warriors’ victory was felt all throughout the arena when they all hugged each other and undeniably swiped a few tears.
“I thought I won’t see you guys (the media) in the first round,” said Derrick jokingly during the post-game interview. “It was definitely a hard-earned win for us. Still, I think that we have not played our full potential against Adamson. There is still a lot to improve on to the next games,” he added.
Alvin Pasaol led the Warriors with 13 points and 7 boards, while RR De Leon recorded his best for the season with 12 points and 4 boards.
Meanwhile Adamson’s Papi Sarr had 13 points and 25 rebounds with rookie Jerrick Ahanmisi’s 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
UE now tied with University of the Philippines (UP) 1-6 win-loss record in the first round of the UAAP Men’s basketball tournament.
Follow the writer on Twitter: [social link=”https://twitter.com/burnsports” icon=”62218″]
