De La Salle University survived a late resurgence from archrivals Ateneo de Manila University with a nailbiting 88-86 victory in the continuation of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament second round on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Green Archers controlled most of the game with Jeron Teng tallying a game high 32 points, 15 of which coming from the first quarter.

Coming up big in the second half for the Archers is forward Jason Perkins who finished the game with 18 points, highlighted by the crucial dagger in the final seconds of play to give La Salle the win after losing to Ateneo in the first round, 86-97.

“The reason why other guys are scoring is because of Jeron recognizing the defense.” said Green Archer head coach Juno Sauler.

La Salle controlled both the boards and the field goal ratio in the entire game, grabbing 44 rebounds and shooting on a 45 percent clip from the floor.

The Blue Eagles tried to keep in step with the defending champions, even having their own taste of the lead in final minutes of play. League scoring leader Kiefer Ravena led the Blue Eagles with 22 points.

La Salle seized control of the entire three quarters before the Eagles mounted a comeback in the final quarter of play. Chris Newsome’s layup gave the Eagles their taste of lead during the first few minutes of the fourth period.

However, a series of bombs were unloaded by the Archers with starting point guard Julian Sargent, hitting a trey to give La Salle a comfortable four point lead, 81-77. The erstwhile benchwarmer, who started in place of the injured Thomas Torres and Kib Montalbo, finished with 11 points.

With the Eagles down by four, Ravena and center Alfonso Gotladera kept the Eagles at a striking distance. Gotladera, who scored ten points, tied the game at 81 with a crucial putback with only a little over a minute left in the fourth.

However, the Archers regained the lead right away with Teng splitting his free throws to give La Salle a precarious one-point lead in the dying seconds of the game. The finishing touches came when Perkins converted on a crucial elbow jumper to stretch the lead of the Archers to four, 81-77 with only 31 seconds to play.

The Blue Eagles tried to recover in the next sequences with Newsome burying a highly-contested trey with only 3 seconds left in the game to give Ateneo a glimmer of hope, 87-86.

Almond Vosotros put the finishing touches after converting one of his pair of free throws to seal the game up and even the season series between the two rival schools.

La Salle now holds a 6-2 card, forging a three-way tie for the first place with the Ateneo and the Far Eastern University, who defeated National University in overtime in the first game, 74-70.