Teng tallies 28 as La Salle survives FEU scare

Jeron Teng carried the fight for La Salle. GMA News

The heavily-favored De La Salle Green Archers faced a rude welcome to open their UAAP Season 79 campaign on Wednesday, with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws giving them a good challenge for a hard-earned 83-78 victory at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Jeron Teng carried La Salle with 28 points, while Ben Mbala had a quiet scoring debut with 13 markers. Rookie Aljun Melecio rounded up the Archers in double figures with 10.

The Archers led by as many as 16 points in the third period, but FEU closed out the third with their own 8-0 run, trimming La Salle's lead to just three heading into the final frame, 66-63.

Jojo Trinidad finally tied the game at 74-all for FEU with less than four minutes left in the game, but a split from Mbala and a Teng make gave DLSU a 77-74 lead heading into the final two minutes.

Splits from Orizu cancelled out another Teng jumper, but the King Archer earned two more from the stripe to stretch the four with 57 ticks left, 81-77. 

Off an FEU timeout, Trinidad missed an open trey, but stole the ball to give FEU a chance to trim the deficit with 21 seconds remaining. He, however, only went 1 of 2 from the line, forcing the Tamaraws to foul Teng to stop the clock.

Teng only managed a split as well, making it a four-point game, 82-78. The Tams had 11 seconds to inch closer but failed to capitalize, while Teng secured another freethrow for the final score. —JST, GMA News