UAAP’s big birds duel in match to watch

The two most dominant squads in the UAAP Season 81 men’s hoops – defending champion Ateneo (9-2) and contender Adamson (8-2) – brace for a dogfight as they face off for Round 2 on Nov. 4.

The Falcons stunned the pre-tournament favorite Blue Eagles in the first salvo of action, 74-70, so you can factor in revenge as additional motivation for the league-leaders in this highstakes matchup.

“I guess there’s sort of a revenge factor but we can’t be too emotional and think ahh, we’re going to have our revenge because Adamson is a good team, they’re solid offensively and defensively, they got good players and good coaching staff ,” said AdMU assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga.

“So we got to prepare well for them not just emotionally and think that we have to get back at them but we have to come into this game with a good game plan and execute it versus their game plan,” he added.

Falcons coach Franz Pumaren said the high-flying Eagles, despite missing twins Mike and Matt Nieto, remain a formidable opponent.

“If you watched Ateneo for the last four games, they look scary. Like what I’ve said in the first game, Ateneo is very deep in every position. They’ve been missing the Nieto brothers and they missed Thirdy (Ravena) for one game but despite that they’ve been winning because they have a very balanced team,” said Pumaren.

Ateneo, which is on a four-game streak, has already clinched a Final Four seat and will target the Top 1 or 2 seeding and twice-to-beat advantage next. Adamson seeks its third consecutive victory and another F4 advance.

The league took a holiday break yesterday and slated its next doubleheader on Saturday at Ynares Center in Antipolo between La Salle (6-4) and Santo Tomas (5-5) and University of the Philippines (5-6) versus National U (3-6).