Santo Tomas outlasts De La Salle in overtime

UST forward Jeric Teng dribbles his way past DLSU guard Almond Vosotros in their UAAP Season 76 first round match. (FCF / Ericka Alcantara)

Playing in his final year in a black and gold-clad uniform, Jeric Teng begins his quest to settle unfinished business — to win one men’s basketball title before his University Athletic Association of the Philippines swan song.

But first, he had his younger brother’s team to vanquish on opening day.

Led by the efforts of the elder half of the brothers Teng, University of Santo Tomas eked a 63-58 victory over De La Salle University on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Jeric outdueled his brother, completing an all-around game with 23 points on 10-for-24 shooting from the field, together with six rebounds and three steals. Jeron Teng, meanwhile, pulled together a quiet 10 points and six rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth period.

Santo Tomas outscored DLSU in the second, 18-8, led by Jeric Teng’s scoring explosion that equaled the Green Archers’ total output in the period. But the Green Archers slowly chipped away at the once-14 point lead in the second half and kept the game within reach.

In the final stretch, La Salle made their move, holding down the Tigers to just one point in the last 4:34 of the game. With 21 seconds left, the referees abruptly stopped play when a ballpen fell right in front of LA Revilla, giving the Taft cagers a chance to set up a final play to tie the ballgame.

Turns out, the designeed play ended up in the hands of lefty shooter Jason Perkins, who calmly buried a 20-foot jumper on the left arc to knot the score at 51 and sent the game into overtime.

Karim Abdul, who went scoreless in the 4th quarter, made up for his absence during the extra five minutes and made the relatively inexperienced Green Archers’ big men pay with two consecutive trips to the foul line.

Misses by Norbert Torres in the lane and Vosotros from long range compounded the woes by DLSU in the final five minutes, as they could not retaliate the Tigers’ finishing kick.

Abdul finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.

Vosotros and Perkins each had 13 points in a losing effort, casting a cloud over Juno Sauler’s debut as the Green Archers’ head coach.

Romeo narrowly misses rare triple-double, Tams shock Warriors in second half recovery

(FCF / Vyn Radovan)

A new Terrence Romeo emerged for Far Eastern University in the season’s curtain-raising game.

Easily putting out the most impressive individual performance this season, the fourth year guard from FEU-FERN aided the second half comeback by the Tamaraws to complete an 89-78 victory over University of the East.

“Nakinig ako sa mga coaches na i-involve ang mga teammates ko…lumuwag ang depensa nila sa akin,” said Romeo about his second-half outburst that led to a near triple-double total of 23 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists.

Despite the strong start to the first half by the rookie-laden Red Warriors, the veteran FEU five blazed their comeback trail with a 20-8 surge to tie the game at 40 by the 7:49 mark of the third canto.

Finally, with 7:48 left in the game, RR Garcia pushed the lead to its apex at 11 to completely pull away from the young Red Warriors.

“Terrence (Romeo) played big, but it was the team that won the game. It was a collective effort,” said head coach Nash Racela.

Garcia finished with 18 points, while Anthony Hargrove finished with 11 points.

Roi Sumang led the Red Warriors with 22, while Ralf Olivarez added 17 points. Highly touted Sierra Leonian transferee Charles Mammie, who previously suited up for Arellano in the NCAA, finished with seven points and 12 rebounds in a foul-riddled ballgame that limited his appearance to 17 minutes.

BOX SCORES
First game
FAR EASTERN (89): Romeo 23, Garcia 18, Hargrove 11, Belo 10, Tolomia 8, Cruz 8, Pogoy 7, Sentcheu 2, Mendoza 2, Jose 0
EAST (78): Sumang 22, Olivarez 17, Casajeros 8, Noble 7, Mammie 7, Javier 4, Hernandez 4, Sumido 3, Santos 3, Jumao-as 3, Flores 0
QUARTERS: 11-21, 32-37, 61-56, 89-78

Second game
SANTO TOMAS (63): Teng 23, Abdul 17, Bautista 6, Mariano 5, Ferrer 5, Pe 3, Hainga 2, Daquioag 2, Lo 0
DE LA SALLE (58): Vosotros 13, Perkins 13, Teng 10, T. Torres 7, N. Torres 6, Reyes 4, Revilla 4, Van Opstal 1, Tampus 0, Bolick 0
QUARTERS: 10-12, 28-20, 40-34, 51-51, 63-58 (OT)