Archers come back to rip Eagles

MANILA, Philippines - Silent nearly all game, La Salle’s Jeron Teng chose the most opportune time to strike the dagger to the heart of rival Ateneo.

Entrusted with the La Salle’s final offensive, Teng made the most out of his one-on-one skills to drill it in as the Archers scored a pulsating 66-64 win over Ateneo to take solo third in the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball tourney at the packed Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

“We just had to get the ball to Jeron and I told him to just make a good decision. If he gets a double (team), he knows where the other guys will be. He saw no double and made a good decision there,” said DLSU coach Juno Sauler.

With 14.5 seconds to make something happen, Teng took on defender Chris Newsome, saw no help defense, spun and knocked down the marginal basket that led to La Salle’s seventh win against four losses. They now stand just one game behind new leader NU (8-3) and half a game off struggling Far Eastern (8-4).

“All throughout, I couldn’t get my rhythm but I was thankful that coach trusted me with the last play,” said Teng, who finished with a meager eight points, his night hampered by foul trouble.

La Salle picked up its fourth straight win as it pulled down Ateneo (6-5) to a share of fourth with University of Santo Tomas, which outlasted FEU in two overtimes, 79-78, in the other game.

Head to head, the Archers duplicated their 82-73 triumph over the Eagles in the first round, sweeping their rivals in the elims for the first time since 2005.

Almond Vosotros paced DLSU with 19 points, making nine of his output in the fourth quarter, where he sparked a 13-2 blast that gave the Archers a 61-55 cushion with 3:52 left.

Ateneo fiercely fought back and managed to tie it all up at 64, on a double-pump, twisting shot by Kiefer Ravena.

“It just went down to the breaks of the game,” said Perasol of the intense game that went down-to-the-wire.

The game was witnessed by 16,353 spectators. It was so intense that a commotion ensued post-match, involving Ateneo coach Bo Perasol and a “heckling” fan. Witnesses said Perasol, and a fan in the La Salle side of the patron area engaged in a verbal altercation as the Blue Eagles were heading to the dugout. Perasol was captured on photo while trying to get past the railing towards the fan.

UAAP Commissioner Chito Loyzaga, however, said his office might not be the proper authority to mete out sanctions for the post-game incident.

"(If there will be sanction, it's) Not (coming) from me...It had nothing to do with the game. I believe it is the responsibility of the UAAP member schools to discipline their teams," Loyzaga said.

"Even if it happened after the game, it's still within the context of the game. But we'll see..maybe they'll elevate it to the board," said Paolo Trillo.

Perasol could face disciplinary himself.

During the game, Perasol was assessed a technical foul for angrily confronting a referee after a non-call and would likely receive a warning from Loyzaga.

As to the post-game altercation, the league is not new to penalizing those involved before, banning fans from venue and sanctioning team members.

Trillo stressed that two La Salle supporters, whom he named as JJ Atayde and Tony Atayde, repeatedly cursed Perasol. The Atayde brothers both denied the accusations.

"I was accused that I had shouted invectives at Coach Bo Perasol.  Again I totally deny this.  If I did shout invectives at Coach Perasol, he did not have to go to the stands as I was right there in the tunnel on the way to the dugout.  He could have easily confronted me there," Tony wrote in his blog.

"They were on the way out and I was shouting: Perasol, salamat sa pagpapanalo mo sa amin," JJ claimed in an interview with www.rappler.com.  He maintained that it was all "fun kantyawan" that's part of every La Salle-Ateneo game.