The cast is set and the UAAP Season 81 Juniors’ basketball Final Four will be rumbling Friday, live on ABS-CBN S+A, S+A HD, LIGA, LIGA HD, iWant, ABS-CBN Sports’ YouTube channel, and sports.abs-cbn.com for a pair of exciting games bannered by the young stars of Philippine hoops starting at 1 pm.
Led by Gerry Abadiano, the Nazareth School-National University Bullpups, who finished at first after the double-round elimination, are up against the fourth-ranked Adamson Baby Falcons of Joem Sabandal at 1 p.m., opening the curtains for a fiery Final Four Friday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Defending champion and second-seed Ateneo, meanwhile, gets its first crack at a Finals seat when Kai Sotto and the Blue Eaglets engage the Far Eastern University Baby Tamaraws led by RJ Abarrientos at 3 p.m.
NSNU is looking forward to a Finals rematch with Ateneo, after getting hammered in Season 80 by Sotto and the graduated trio of SJ Belangel, Dave Ildefonso, and Jason Credo with the help of its current Big Three of Carl Tamayo, Abadiano, and Terrence Fortea. Coach Goldwin Monterverde’s boys have dominated the tournament, but will face a hungry Adamson squad, who handed them their only loss in the eliminations.
Sotto, meanwhile, looks to lead the Blue Eaglets to a UAAP Juniors record 15th UAAP diadem with the help of his new running mate in point guard Forthsky Padrigao. The squad is on a roll since Padrigao’s return and has eased the load that Sotto, and fellow big man Geo Chiu, have been carrying for the better part of the eliminations.The defending champions will have to contend and contain the Baby Tams’ crack guard rotation that features RJ Abarrientos, Xyrus Torres, and Royce Alforque, who all showed up when the Baby Tams beat the Blue Eaglets in overtime during the eliminations.
While facing powerhouse teams, ABS-CBN Sports analyst, former Ateneo Lady Eagle, and women’s basketball national team mainstay Danica Jose believes that both FEU and Adamson are no pushovers, especially at this stage of the competition.
“FEU is the dark horse in the league and I think they can pull off an upset given their key players. The challenge for Ateneo is for their bigmen to effectively guard their skilled perimeter players. On the other side, Adamson may have given NSNU their solitary loss, but it will be tough battle in the backcourt against the Bullpups which parades Gerry Abadiano and Ernest Felicilda,” she explained.
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