Falcons’ back-to-back wins best in 10 years

Fil-German Kenneth Bono took charge in second overtime as Adamson nipped National University, 74-70, yesterday for its first back-to-back victories in a decade that boosted its Final Four bid in the 66th UAAP basketball tournament at the Blue Eagle Gym.

Stepping up in the absence of injured Mark Kong, the rookie out of Iloilo Chinese Commercial High School hit a pair of baskets in second extra period to seal the Falcons’ third win in as many losses and Luigi Trillo’s best start ever since he took over the coaching job for Adamson in 2000.

"Ken Bono really came out to play and stepped up big for us," said Trillo, whose 60-57 triumph over the Santo Tomas Tigers last week was also the school’s first in 11 seasons.

"We also accomplished three things in this game — one, we matched our wins last year. Second, we won our first back-to-back wins in 10 years and lastly, we moved closer to the leaders," he added.

Mark Abadia was actually Adamson’s top scorer with 19 points, including five straight in one stretch of the first overtime but he nearly turned from hero to goat in a span of 32 seconds when he was called for two quick technical fouls for taunting and slapping the back of NU’s Alex Miclat, leading to his disqualification with a little over two minutes to go in the first extra five minutes.

University of the East rode on a big fourth quarter run to hold off Santo Tomas, 73-69, to join La Salle in third place with 4-2 slates.

Fortunately for the Falcons, they managed to hung on the rest of the period to force another extension, thanks to a foul shot by Richard Alonzo.

The Bulldogs were poised to pounced on Abadia’s absence after a quick basket by Bryan Tolentino and a menacing defense that shut down the Falcons for more than a three-minute stretch before Ranier Catabay knotted the count at 68-all with a driving lay-up.

Then came Bono, a 6’5" center gifted with a soft touch from the outside, for two straight field goals that handed the Bulldogs their sixth setback in seven outings.