ADAMSON survived a scare down the final stretch to grab the solo lead and the first Final Four slot with a 72-64 victory over defending champion Nazareth School of National University in the UAAP high school basketball tournament Wednesday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

The Baby Falcons led 57-45 at the close of the third canto and way ahead 63-52 on Peter Rosillo’s lay-up when the Bullpups rallied to within 64-68 on Reinhard Jumamoy’s jumper with a little over a minute remaining.

With a sorry 66-69 opening-day loss in mind, as Adamson wilted down the stretch, the Baby Falcons made sure a similar meltdown will not happen this time, thanks to Vince Reyes’ gem of a lay-up and two free throws with 49.4 ticks to go.

“Fortunately, sa dulo kumapit. We had three turnovers na crucial that they (NSNU) converted to six points. We were up by 11 so baba ng lima kaagad. So sabi ko, huwag bibitaw. Kapag naitawid ang bola, huwag magmamadali,” enthused Baby Falcons coach Mike Fermin.

“Mabuti kumapit ang mga bata. Hat’s off to them.”

Hats off indeed as it was Adamson’s ninth straight win, more than enough to give the view from the top with four games remaining to deal with in the eliminations.

“There’s a prize kapag nasa top ka. Lahat ng nasa ibaba, ikaw ang target. Ang sabi ko sa kanila, maging consistent lang tayo, who knows? Sinong mag-aakala na magna-No. 1 kami?,” said Fermin, whose wards never crossed the minds of oddsmakers in the preseason.

Rosillo went on to lead the Baby Falcons in scoring, finishing with 22 points and five rebounds. His close friend Jumamoy scored 25 points, five assists, three steals, and three boards for the Bullpups.

With the loss, NSNU slid to 8-2, tied at the second spot with Far Eastern University-Diliman, which bucked the early departure of VJ Pre to repulse University of Santo Tomas, 98-75.

Pre sustained a sprained ankle with just a minute gone in the game and was sidelined the rest of the way but the Baby Tamaraws rose to the occasion by outscoring the Tiger Cubs, 25-10, in the second period.

FEU then erected a 53-32 halftime lead and never looked back.

“At least nag-step up yung mga bigs na kapalitan ni VJ,” said coach Allan Albano, as FEU inched closer in securing a place in the Final Four.

Kirby Mongcopa played a huge role in the Baby Tamaraws’ win with 28 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists.

UST failed to capitalize on the result of the first game that would have given the Tiger Cubs solo fourth place in the standings.

The University of the East, behind Vhon Roldan’s 27-point explosion, weathered a La Salle-Zobel fightback from 23 points down to fashion out a stunning 82-77 win and snap a four-game slide.

Ateneo drew 25 points and 24 rebounds from 6-foot-5 center Kristian Porter, made the Final Four race interesting with a 88-82 win over UP Integrated School in the last game,

The Blue Eagles also bucked LeBron Nieto’s 0-of-10 shooting from the field, as they forced a three-way tie with the Tiger Cubs and the Junior Archers in fourth place at 4-6.

JP Pangilinan had 29 points, eight boards, five steals, and two assists while Charles Bucsit was the other UST player in double digits with 11 points.

Rhyle Melencio put up massive numbers of 26 points and 20 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the tournament and had five blocks while Alas chipped in 22 points, seven boards, and four assists for La Salle-Zobel.