By Kevin Patrick V. Mariano
MANILA, (PNA)–Jeron Teng came up big at the most needed time after burying a crucial game winning jumper that gave the De La Salle Green Archers a 66-64 win over archrival Ateneo in a classic UAAP 76 Second Round showdown in front of the mammoth crowd on Sunday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
In a down to the wire finish, both teams fought toe to toe until the last second as they kept on exchanging baskets but La Salle had the last laugh again to duplicate their first round victory.
Almond Vosotross led the pack as he top scored his team with 19 points while Jason Perkins added 13 markers and 15 rebounds for the Taft based squad.
The Archers are protecting a six point lead,61-55 with less than four minutes left but Juami Tiongson answered by scoring back to back baskets to trim the lead to two,61-59 with 2:30 left in the fourth and final canto.
With a minute left in the game, Coach Bo Perasol was called for a technical foul after arguing with a referee that gave Almond Vosotros a chance to increase the lead to four,63-59 by making his two charities.
La Salle earned the possession but it was spoiled as Jason Perkins was called for an offensive foul. Ateneo came charging back in just ten seconds as Ryan Buenafe nailed a cold bloodied trey to put them within one,63-62 with 41 seconds left.
In their next possession,Jeron Teng was fouled on his way to the hoop ,he splits his charities to give them a two point lead 64-62 that forced Ateneo to call time out with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Off a timeout, Kiefer Ravena quickly scored through a lay-up that knotted the score at 64 all with 14 seconds remaining in the final period. La Salle called their final time out that opened the door for Jeron Teng’s endgame heroics.
Teng delivered at crunchtime as he buried the game winning jumper in front of Chris Newsome with two seconds left,Ateneo failed to convert as the Lasallites celebrated with the win.
However, this win solidified the Final four chances of the Archers as they climbed up to the 3rd spot of the UAAP Standings with a 7-4 record while the Eagles wounded up to 6-5 to tie with UST at 4th place.
Coach Juno Sauler was happy that Jeron Teng made the shot, “he made a good read,he wasn’t double-teamed and just made the basket.”
The scores:
DLSU (66) – Vosotros 19, Perkins 13, Revilla 11, Teng 8, N. Torres 6, Van Opstal 4, Montalbo 3, Salem 2, Tampus 0, Reyes 0, De La Paz 0, Bolick 0.
Ateneo (64) – Tiongson 14, Elorde 13, Ravena 12, Buenafe 9, Newsome 8, Pessumal 4, Golla 2, Erram 2, Tolentino 0, Enriquez 0, Capacio 0.