Far Eastern University-Diliman made it two in a row, while Adamson University barged into the win column Wednesday in the UAAP Season 85 high school boys basketball tournament at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
With newly-appointed FEU men’s basketball coach Denok Miranda temporarily taking over in the sidelines in lieu of Allan Albano, the Baby Tamaraws overpowered University of the East, 116-80, to remain unbeaten in the young season.
The Baby Falcons rebounded from last Sunday’s season-opening loss to Nazareth School of National University with a 78-60 romp of De La Salle-Zobel.
FEU-Diliman led by as much as 43 points to prevail even without its head coach Albano.
“Dine-dedicate itong game na ito sa father ni coach Allan (Albano), who passed away yesterday (Tuesday),” said Miranda.
Despite the convincing victory, Miranda was not satisfied the way the Baby Tamaraws allowed the Junior Warriors to put up a lot of points.
“Medyo mataas ang score, naka-80 ang UE. Ang goal talaga namin is defense, iyon ang pina-prioritize namin,” said Miranda.
John Rey Pasaol led FEU-Diliman with 27 points, seven assists and four assists while Jedric Daa had 12 points, nine boards and two assists. Miranda’s son Dwayne and Luke Felipe each scored 11 points while VJ Pre was the other Baby Tamaraw in double digits with 10 points to go along with nine rebounds and two assists.
Peter Rosilio tallied 14 points, eight boards and three steals, JR Abayon chipped in 13 points while Teabol Garcia had 12 points, five assists and four steals for Adamson University.
The Baby Falcons, who dropped a 76-79 decision to the Bullpups in the season opener, evened up their record to 1-1.
“Offensively, wala namang binago. Yung depensa lang. Mas matindi ang pressure namin sa bola,” said Adamson University coach Mike Fermin.
“We tried them (Junior Archers) to make a lot of mistakes. We scored 23 points off turnovers.”
The loss negated Ryhie Melencio’s double-double outing of 17 points and 12 rebounds for De La Salle-Zobel.
The Junior Archers and the Junior Warriors fell to 0-2.