ADAMSON seized 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 yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

The Baby Falcons were comfortably ahead 57-45, at the end of the third quarter and were clinging at a 63-52 advantage on a Peter Rosillo lay-up when the Bullpups made a run and trimmed down the deficit to 64-68 on a Reinhard Jumamoy jumper with over a minute remaining.

Unlike its 66-69 opening day loss where it crumbled down the stretch, Adamson made sure that there will be no meltdown this time as Vince Reyes converted a lay-up and two free throws in the final 49.4 seconds.

“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,” said Baby Falcons coach Mike Fermin. “Mabuti kumapit ang mga bata. Hat’s off to them.”

Extending its winning streak to nine games, Adamson suddenly found itself alone on top of the standings with four games left in the eliminations.

“There’s a prize kapag nasa top ka. Lahat ng nasa ibaba, ikaw ang target. Ang sabi ko kanila, maging consistent lang tayo, who knows? Sinong mag-aakala na magna-No. 1 kami?,” said Fermin, whose squad was not in the preseason radar.

Rosillo led the Baby Falcons with 22 points and five rebounds to prevail in their duel with his close friend Jumamoy, who came through with 25 points, five assists, three steals and three boards for the Bullpups.

NSNU fell to 8-2 in a tie with Far Eastern University-Diliman, which bucked the early departure of VJ Pre to repulse University of Santo Tomas, 98-75, in second spot.

Pre sprained his ankle with just a minute gone by in the game and never returned, but the Baby Tamaraws were able to overcame the rough patch by outscoring the Tiger Cubs, 25-10, in the second period to build 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 for 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 give the Tiger Cubs solo fourth in the standings.

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.