Falcons, Tigers seek 4th wins vs lowly squads

Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

2 p.m. – UP vs UST

4 p.m. – Adamson vs DLSU

MANILA, Philippines - Adamson and University of Santo Tomas gun for their fourth wins against separate rivals today as the jockeying for position among teams in the middle of the pack continues in the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Sharing second spot with identical 3-2 win-loss records, the Falcons and the Tigers seek to put more distance on the rest of the field when they take on struggling La Salle (2-3) and winless University of the Philippines (0-5), respectively.

Adamson and La Salle tangle at 4 p.m. following the 2 p.m. encounter between UST and UP.

The Falcons are on a high after their 68-66 triumph over pre-tournament favorite National U. But coach Leo Austria hopes his wards won’t get lulled into complacency after a big win like what happened when AdU upstaged heavyweight University of the East earlier then flopped in their next outing against Ateneo.

“I hope this win (over NU) will not make us so complacent. It happened before,we beat UE and the following game, we only played 80 percent against Ateneo and lost,” said Austria.

The San Marcelino-based cagers go up against a La Salle team that’s eager to bounce back after letting a pair of seemingly won-games slip away. The Archers blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a 79-83 overtime setback to Far Eastern then squandered a 10-point margin in an 83-85 heartbreaker to UE.

“I hope La Salle couldn’t recover. But I’m sure a very good basketball organization like La Salle, with a lot of veteran players, will sit down and try to remedy their problems. So we have to prepare for them,” said Austria.

The Tigers, for their part, fumbled against the unbeaten Tams, 67-77, hurt by the absence of injured skipper Jeric Teng (shoulder) in the face of the torrid attack of FEU’s super guards Terrence Romeo, RR Garcia and Mike Tolomia.

“We collapsed in the endgame, plus breaks went their (Tams’) way and we couldn’t stop their momentum,” UST coach Pido Jarencio said in Filipino.

Teng, who had already missed two games, is undergoing rehab with platelet-rich plasma treatment to recover from partial shoulder tear. At best, the veteran is expected to return to active duty by the second round.

UP is coming off a 64-72 loss to Ateneo.

Meanwhile, UAAP commissioner Chito Loyzaga has issued a warning to FEU’s Terrence Romeo and UST’s Karim Abdul for their actions in their last game. Romeo tripped UST’s Ed Daquioag and was slapped an unsportsmanlike foul while Abdul was warned for elbowing FEU’s Christian Sentcheu.