Rookies anchor Falcons’ flying start

New-look Adamson fired a warning shot to the rest of the field with an impressive 104-85 rout of University of the Philippines yesterday at the start of the UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Fil-Am Jerrick Ahanmisi exploded with 28 points spiked by six triples to lead the Falcons to a flying start under decorated mentor Franz Pumaren, who’s tasked to turn the teams’ fortunes around.

In the second game, Ateneo cranked it up in the fourth quarter to post a 73- 69 victory over host University of Santo Tomas.

Ahanmisi, brother of PBA player Maverick, stood at the forefront of Adamson’s long-range bombing and made all but one of his seven tries from beyond the arc. The Falcons rained 13 treys overall on UP with neophyte Rob Manalang (16 markers) hitting two and transferee Terrence Mustre (nine points) nailing three.

Manalang also dished out nine assists as he and Ahanmisi anchored AdU’s impressive start.

“They’re smart players who can help up especially with their shooting,” said Pumaren, who also got production from Dawn Ochea (13 points) and Papi Sarr (13 markers, 11 boards).

Pumaren, though, wouldn’t want to get carried away with this first win, ruing the mental mistakes and the less-than-ideal defensive effort that enabled the opponent to score 85.

“That’s not a Franz Pumaren type of defense. I’ve been stressing that one actually – our main target was (limiting opponents to) 12 to 14 per quarter. But we made some ridiculous turnovers and that led to some easy transition points,” he said.

Playing their first match in the post- Kiefer Ravena era, the Blue Eagles turned to Aaron Black, Thirdy Ravena and a cast of unsung heroes to score the win. The scores: First Game AdU 104 – Ahanmisi 28, Manalang 16, Ochea 13, Sarr 13, Mustre 9, Manganti 8, Pasturan 6, Tungcab 6, Ng 4, Paranada 1, Camacho 0.

UP 85 – Desiderio 24, Manuel 15, Moralde 12, Asilum 11, Vito 7, Harris 5, Webb 5, Gomez de Liano 2, Lao 2, Romero 2, Dario 0, Lim 0, Prado 0, Jaboneta 0, Longa 0. Quarterscores: 28-18, 46-38, 73-57, 104-85 Second Game AdMU 73 – Black 23, Ravena 17, Mi.Nieto 7, Asistio 6, Mendoza 5, Wong 5, Babilonia 4, Go 2, Ma. Nieto 2, Tolentino 2, Ikeh 0, Porter 0, Verano 0.

UST 69 – Vigil 21, Macasaet 12 Bonleon 9, Lao 8, Basibas 7, Faundo 6, Afoakwah 2, de Guzman 2, Subido 2, Arana 0, Huang 0, Lee 0, Sheriff 0.

Quarterscores: 14-17, 34-34, 52-51, 73-69.