FilOil: DLSU Green Archers come from behind to beat UST Growling Tigers

(Updated 6:57pm) Just one of the two Teng brothers were going home with a win, and although Jeric was on a scoring tear, it was the younger Jeron and his wily De La Salle Green Archers squad that came out on top. Rookie Jason Perkins scored 17 points and hauled in 13 rebounds, while sophomore Gabby Reyes added 13, to give De La Salle a 73-67 win over the PCCL champions University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena, in the second opening day game of the 2013 FilOil Flying V Hanes Preseason tournament. DLSU went on a 13-2 tear over the last three minutes of the final quarter, six of which were scored by Perkins. Going in, UST had held a six-point lead by the end of the third quarter, but it slowly evaporated as the Growling Tigers defense crumbled. Jeron Teng finished with 10 points in 18 minutes of action, conveting 3-of-10 from the field. Almond Vosotros also scored 10, making 4-of-9. Big man Norbert Torres was good for six points and nine boards. Both teams got off to a cold start, as neither side made a single field goal for a stretch of almost five minutes, until Thomas Torres buried a 15-footer. UST focused its defenses on Jeron Teng, while DLSU enforced a zone defense, which the Tigers slowly ripped apart in the late stages of the first, as both Jeric Teng and gutsy forward Aljon Mariano utilized their range. Triples from both players put the Tigers up by six in the first quarter, 16-10. La Salle’s guards erased that deficit early in the second quarter, as Vosotros and La Salle Greenhills standout Robert Bolick went for six straight points, until a lay-in by Mariano ended UST’s brief scoring drought. The Tigers shifted their focus to De La Salle’s guards, which stopped La Salle’s flow. The Archers then started attacking the interior, erasing the deficit with a small offensive spurt, eventually catching up with UST by halftime, 34-34. By the intermission, the older Teng already had 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting and a 6-of-6 clip from the free throw line for UST.   Although UST was hitting from range, the team was a paltry 3-of-13 from beyond the arc. Mariano’s inside-outside prowess complemented Teng’s game however, as the forward scored 12 of his own. Despite getting beat on the boards by the half, La Salle relied on second-chance points, hauling down seven offensive rebounds out of their total 12, and converting them into nine markers. The Archers also took advantage of the void left by the graduation of point guard Jeric Fortuna, pressuring UST’s ballhandlers Robin Tan and Ed Daquioag to force eight turnover points off seven Growling Tigers miscues. UST slowly distanced themselves in the third quarter, as the older Teng kept adding on to the Green Archers' deficit, each time La Salle crept close. Jeric scattered 13 points in the third period, using a myriad of offensive moves, drawing fouls in the process. A pair of free throws by him and a reverse lay-up by Mariano gave UST a relatively safe distance heading into the fourth, 57-51. Jeric Teng scored a game-high 31 points making eight of his 20 attempts. He also converted a perfect 13-for-13 clip from the line and added four boards and an assist. Aljon Mariano chimed in with 28 points on 9-of-23 shooting. Only three other UST players scored however. Center Karim Abdul and Edcor Marata scored three apiece, though Abdul hauled in six boards, and Kevin Ferrer, hobbled by foul trouble throughout the game, provided a measley two. Key for the Archers were their second-chance points and their turnover points, as the Greenies scored 17 points off 18 offensive rebounds and 14 points off 13 UST turnovers. The Taft-based squad also out-rebounded the Espana-based squad, 27-24. The Tigers featured a roster similar to last year’s, sans starting guard Jeric Fortuna and reserve big man Melo Afuang. In their place are Joseph Gabayni and Jerome Cruz, plus the returning Jon Sheriff. Meanwhile, La Salle continues to reload, bringing in several Fil-foreigners like Jason Perkins, Yankie Haruna and Mat Salem, to complement "true" rookies Kib Montalbo and Robert Bolick. - AMD, GMA News The scores: DLSU - Perkins 17, Reyes 13, Teng 10, Vosotros 10, N. Torres 6, T. Torres 4, Tampus 4, Montalbo 3, Haruna 2, Bolick 2, Van Opstal 2, Andrada 0, Paredes 0, Reyes 0 UST – Teng 31, Mariano 28, Abdul 3, Marata 3, Ferrer 2, Daquioag 0, Lo 0, Sheriff 0, Bautista 0, Hainga 0, Tan 0, Vigil 0, Pe 0 Quarter-scoring: 16-10, 34-34, 57-51, 67-72