ADAMSON High School and Far Eastern University-Diliman hurdled their foes and hit their immediate targets yesterday.
The Soaring Falcons tripped University of Santo Tomas 78-66 to gain the top seed in the Final Four of the 85th UAAP juniors’ basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Ditto with the Baby Tamaraws who turned back defending two-time champion Nazareth School of National University.
Adamson will face UST in the semis, while FEU-D and NSNU will square off in the other pairing.
The Final Four will begin on Tuesday, March 7, at the same venue.
Carlo Bonzalida notched a career-high 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field, on top of six rebounds and two steals for the Baby Falcons.
“This is very important because of the stakes. If we lose, we will be facing the loser of the NU-FEU game,” Adamson coach Mike Fermin said.
“Mabigat iyon. Maganda na nag-respond iyong players sa pressure,” he added.
Peter Rosillo and Earl Medina added 14 points each, while Justine Garcia returned from a team-imposed suspension with 10 markers and 10 assists in the victory that gave Adamson a 12-2 record at the end of elims play.
The Baby Tamaraws leaned on guard JR Pasaol to break away from the Bullpups.
JR, the younger brother of former University of the East standout and Meralco player Alvin, scored 11 of his 22 points in the final frame that saw them turn a 62-53 lead into a 75-55 cushion with 6:42 left in the game.
“Siyempre sobrang laki nitong panalo na ito lalo na para sa confidence ng mga bata heading into the Final Four,” FEU-D tactician Allan Albano said. “But siyempre, expect pa rin namin na babalik iyong NU ng mas malakas.”
Also chipping in 22 markers for FEU-D was Dwyne Miranda, son of Tamaraws coach Denok.
