ON a rainy Sabbath day, University of the East guard Welo Lingolingo said a little prayer then rose for a tough and twisting short jumper akin to Michael Jordan.
The ball hit the glass first and dropped into the hoop as time expired–cage Gods blessing the Red Warriors over the gritty Adamson University Soaring Falcons.
Thanks to Lingolingo’s buzzer-beating basket, UE nipped Adamson 63-62 to stretch its winning streak to five at the end of its first-round campaign in the 87th UAAP basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Lingolingo’s dramatic game-winner via an offensive board off Nico Mulingtapang’s badly missed jumper sent the Red and White faithful in frenzy, with Warriors coach Jack Santiago raising his hands in jubilation.
“Una sa lahat, nagpapasalamat tayo sa Panginoon dahil iyong winning streak namin it’s giving me pressure talaga,” Santiago said. “So, I’m very thankful na answered prayers talaga iyong ibinigay sa amin.
“I’m so happy with the guys, at least ngayon nakikita ko talaga iyong character namin is starting to build and talagang ayaw magpatalo ng mga bata,” he added.
After playing with no relief in UE’s 69-62 triumph against Ateneo last Wednesday, Nigerian center Precious Momowei suited up in all but 23 seconds and showed the way for the Warriors with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, and a block.
Devin Fikes added 11 markers built on three three-pointers while Lingolingo had 10 points and five rebounds.
Ethan Galang returned from a knee injury and scored 10 points as UE rose to 5-2. The Recto-based five’s winning skein matched their longest since the Derrick Pumaren-mentored squad also rolled to five straight victories in the 77th cage wars in 2014.
“Sinasabi ni coach Jack na hindi dapat hinahanap iyong laro, hayaan mo iyong laro na pumunta sa iyo,” Lingolingo said. “Iyon lang ang ginagawa ko, wala akong tini-take na forced shot. Ang game-winning shot hindi ko talaga ini-expect, parang nandoon lang talaga ako tapos na-make ko lang salamat kay God.
“Iyong nakita ko iyong oras, hindi ako nag-dalawang isip. Luckily, pumasok iyong shot.”
The numbing setback mirrored Adamson’s 57-69 defeat to University of the Philippines last Saturday where it squandered a 22-point lead and slipped to 3-4 for fifth.
The Warriors trailed 18-28 early on and 34-39 at the half but battled back and pulled to within 48-50 heading into the payoff canto.
Mathew Montebon carried the fight for the Falcons with 12 points, two caroms, and four dimes while Matt Erolon chipped in 11 markers.
Cedrick Manzano and Royce Mantua also combined for 18 for Adamson.