Archers survive Eagles in dying seconds

MANILA, Philippines - He was hardly a factor in the middle quarters but when winning time came, La Salle veteran Jeron Teng stepped to the plate and delivered the coup de grace for the Green Archers.

Under heavy pressure from a hard-fighting Ateneo team that turned an initially one-way affair into a frantic race to the finish, Teng turned in clutch plays on the offensive and defensive ends to seal a hard-earned 67-65 victory that sent La Salle closer to the UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball crown yesterday.

“I just had to step up. I wasn’t in the flow in the game and kailangan kong bumawi sa depensa (I want to bounce back by helping on defense). Next game, I expect to play better,” said Teng after the pulsating win before 16,712 crowd at the MOA Arena.

Teng drove in for a basket that restored a 66-65 cushion for the Green Archers with 15.1 seconds left. In the next play, Teng hounded Aaron Black and blocked the latter’s attempt, leading to ball possession for DLSU and a split from Kib Montalbo for a fresh two-point margin.

“That basket was more on instinct, I saw an open lane and I got the layup. As to the defensive stop, it was more of adrenaline, good thing I deflected the shot,” said Teng, who finished with 10 markers to go with four rebounds and three assists.

Ben Mbala topscored with 20 markers and 15 rebounds for the DLSU team that can go for the kill on Wednesday in Game Two.

“During crunchtime, you lean on your veteran, JT (Teng), and of course to the talent of Ben (Mbala). These guys just don’t want to lose,” said DLSU coach Aldin Ayo.

Top-seeded La Salle stormed to an early 17-2 tear and seemed well in control, 36-26, after two periods. But resilient Ateneo clawed its way back in and caught up with DLSU after the third, 52-52. The Eagles went on to take their very first lead on a bucket by Matt Nieto over Aljun Melecio, 65-64, going to the last 34.6 seconds.

“We lost double-digit lead and the other team was getting the momentum but the good thing was, we were sticking to our scheme and not resorting to one-on-one plays. We called the plays, our players executed them and even if we missed, we could get the offensive rebound because we knew we’re going to take the shot,” said Ayo.

Black paced Ateneo with 12 but went scoreless in the payoff period.

“It was a classic battle. We got off to a terrible start and La Salle got off to a great start with a lot of composure and they did things they wanted and we didn’t,” said AdMU mentor Tab Baldwin. “We were very rattled in the beginning I think by La Salle and maybe by the occasion, too. Then we settled down and played good basketball for three quarters, came back, made a fight out of it.”

In the end, Teng spelled the big difference. 

“Somebody’s got to make plays at the end of the game and Jeron made a winning shot,” said Baldwin.