By John Bryan Ulanday
RED-HOT Adamson tries to catch its biggest fish in unbeaten reigning champion Ateneo to solidify its place inside the Final Four when they tussle in the critical last week of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Game time is at 4:30 p.m. with the Soaring Falcons out to stretch their streak to five straight wins even against the mighty Blue Eagles, who are on a 37-game winning spree of their own since 2018 including an 11-0 start this season.
La Salle (7-4) and Far Eastern University (FEU) (5-6), for their parts, are out to boost their own playoff drives in the opener at 10:30 a.m. while National University (NU) (4-7) and Santo Tomas (3-8) fight for survival in the main game at 7 p.m.
Though already assured of a Final Four seat, University of the Philippines (UP) (9-2) eyes to secure the No. 2 seed against winless and also-ran University of the East (UE) (0-11) at 12:30 p.m.
With Ateneo and UP already in the playoffs while La Salle sporting an inside track at No. 3, four teams scramble for the last spot led by Adamson that is peaking at the right time to gain a grip of its own destiny in the last three matches.
Only the Blue Eagles gave a beating to the Soaring Falcons in the first phase, where they lost five games by an average of only three points before stringing four victories in a row to make a late Final Four surge.
Ateneo, which is also out to move closer to another season sweep for an automatic finals ticket that would only fortify its bid for a fourth straight UAAP crown, assures its readiness for a heavy Adamson fightback. “We always take it one game at a time and we know that Adamson is preparing for us of course, so it’s the same thing that we’ll be doing. We look forward to meeting them,” coach Tab Baldwin said.