Falcons rip Blazers in Champions League

The duel between two former La Sallites wasn’t even close. And one of the NCAA’s best teams found itself overmatched against one of the UAAP’s downtrodden.

Adamson outscored St. Benilde, 25-14, in the third quarter yesterday as the Falcons clobbered the Blazers, 77-62, in the Grudge Games of Champions League 2003 at the Makati Coliseum.

La Salle, riding high on the exploits of new recruit JV Casio, ripped Letran, 87-77, in the other game.

Mark Abadia had 13 points and Jeff Tajonera added 12 as Adamson overcame 22 turnovers by dominating the boards, 57-37, including 23-13 under the offensive glass.

"We were able to take advantage of their cold shooting from beyond the 3-point arc," said Adamson coach Luigi Trillo, taking the measure of fellow Green Archer mainstay Tonichi Yturri, the Blazers mentor.

"I told my boys at halftime to pounce on their outside shooter. It was good to be able to bounce back from a flat start," Trillo said.

Without a legitimate gunner like Sunday Salvacion, now a pro with Barangay Ginebra, the Blazers struggled on 6 of 20 shooting from rainbow range.

Patrick Cabahug and Patrick Tiongco each had six points in the breakaway third quarter for Adamson as it stretched a 36-32 halftime lead to 61-46.

"I’m really lacking of big men," said Yturri. "I tried to rotate what I had but we were really at a ceiling disadvantage."