Jeron Teng fires a jumper during La Salle's clash with Ateneo on Saturday. Photo by Vyn Radovan
A classic matchup deserved a classic ending.
Down by three in the dying seconds of the match, highly-touted guard Jeron Teng took the Green Archers under his wing and buried a clutch three-pointer that tied the game and eventually led De La Salle University to a 62-59 victory.
In Saturday’s 2012 Filoil-Flying V Pre-Season Hanes Cup elimination round finale at The Arena in San Juan, the third-generation guard from Xavier School connected on 17 points on a subpar 6-for-19 shooting for the night.
LA Revilla, who connected on key baskets in the extra sessions, finished with 16 points. Norbert Torres towered underneath and annexed 13 points and a game-high 19 rebounds in the process.
Returning swingman Ryan Buenafe paced the four-straight defending UAAP champions with 21 points, including a 3-for-7 clip from three-point range that kept the Blue Eagles in the game during crucial stretches where DLSU attempted to pull away.
Kiefer Ravena struggled through most of the game, tallying 14 points on 4-for-17 shooting. Big men JP Erram and Justin Chua each finished with 6 points apiece.
Despite big men Papot Paredes and Arnold Van Opstal not logging in a single minute in the game which created mismatches against taller and heftier opposition from the blue side, the Taft-based green shirts totally outrebounded Ateneo sans dominant big man Greg Slaughter (ankle sprain), 62-45.
In the offensive rebounds category, DLSU made a living by grabbing the boards (21-8) and connecting in second chances (16-4) as well.
However, this match was marked by poor field goal shooting from both teams, as Ateneo (21-of-68, 31%) and De La Salle (23-of-73, 32%) both managed to shoot themselves out of shape.
In the end, it was the breaks of the game and the shots that mattered that took the Green Archers to victory, which is their sixth straight against their archrivals in this tournament since its inception in 2006.
BOX SCORES
DE LA SALLE (62): Teng 17, Revilla 16, N. Torres 13, Andrada 5, Vosotros 4, Mendoza 2, Gotladera 2, Tampus 2, Manguera 1, Webb 0, G. Reyes 0, T. Torres 0
ATENEO (59): Buenafe 21, Ravena 14, Erram 6, Chua 6, Tiongson 4, Elorde 4, Salva 3, Gonzaga 1, Golla 0, Sumalinog 0, Porter 0, Pessumal 0, Capacio 0
QUARTERS: 14-10, 28-20, 38-31, 53-53, 62-59 (OT)
