MANILA (UPDATED)— Adamson University tallied a crucial win to boost its bid for a Final Four spot.

The Soaring Falcons defeated University of Sto. Tomas, 61-53, at the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Joshua Yerro finished with 17 points on four-of-six three point shooting, while also posting four assists and three boards.

Joem Sabandal and Matt Montebon finished with nine and eight, respectively, while John Calisay and Didat Hanapi scored seven markers each.

Down 50-40 in the final quarter, the Growling Tigers went on a 10-2 run to get as close as two, 52-50, after a Christian Manaytay basket at the 6:25 mark.

But Montebon and Hanapi found their rhythm to re-establish an 11-point lead, 61-50, after the latter knocked down two straight three-pointers with only 2:50 remaining in the game.

Manaytay top-scored for UST with 13 points, while Ivanne Calum, Ivan Lazarte, and Nic Cabanero combined for 27 points, each scoring nine.

Adamson remained in the fourth spot of the standings as they improved to 5-5, while UST, on the other hand, is only a loss from being officially eliminated from Final Four contention as they fell to 1-9.

The scores:

AdU (61) – Yerro 17, Sabandal 9, Montebon 8, Calisay 7, Hanapi 7, Anabo 6, Manzano 3, Ojarikre 2, Magbuhos 2, Colonia 0, Erolon 0, Barcelona 0, Barasi 0, Ramos 0, Canete 0.

UST (53) – Manaytay 13, Calum 9, Lazarte 9, Cabañero 9, Manalang 8, Pangilinan 4, Duremdes 1, Crisostomo 0, Laure 0, Ventulan 0, Gesalem 0, Llemit 0, Esmena 0, Moore 0.

Quarterscores: 19-20, 35-32, 48-40, 61-53