After his debut in the Green Archers’ win last Sunday against Ateneo’s Team B, Fil-Am rookie Jason Perkins delivered a clutch performance to turn back the Letran Knights, 70-62, in a game that was marred with double fouls and ejections.

Perkins poured 15 of his 18 markers in the fourth quarter to fend off attacks by the Muralla outfit.

The Green Archers held a comfortable 17-6 advantage in the first quarter before La Salle’s Alfonzo Gotladera and Letran’s Raymond Almazan caused a stir between the two teams. The two big men, alongside Jam Cortes and Alex Almario of Letran were ejected after the conflict at the 2:30 mark. The referees also slapped an unsportsmanlike foul on Green Archer Joshua
Webb and called a technical foul to the Letran bench.

Fresh off the incident, the Green Archers were silenced by Letran’s Carlo Lituania who sparked a 12-3 rally to trim the green shirts’ lead at the end of the first canto. In retaliation, the Green Archers went for a shooting backlash.

Then, the Knights defended tightly to thwart La Salle’s field goal shooting, limiting the Abanilla-mentored team to a total of five points in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, veteran center Yutien Andrada and Joshua Webb ignited a comeback that gave the Green Archers a couple of points adrift in the end of the third period.

Despite the resilience shown by the Knights during the last ten minutes of the game, Perkins, Jeron Teng and Mac Tallo, combined to bring 23 points to finish things off in the fourth.

Perkins had recently joined the Green Archers in training; the Minnesota native will have to wait before making a debut in the UAAP as residency constraints render him ineligible for the upcoming Season 75.

Regarding the rumble in the first quarter, Gotladera explained that Almazan elbowed him to the nape, therefore enabling him to retaliate. After an exchange of pushes, Almazan sent Gotladera to the wall.

Webb, who also got into the situation, claimed that it was all part of Letran’s game plan. “With us leading in the game, they did those things to frustrate us, but we kept on playing basketball,” he said.

Meanwhile, Coach Abanilla pointed out, “It took us out of our game, but the boys responded well.”

Abanilla also said that with the start of the AY 2012-2013, the athletes will have no problems in handling class and training schedules.

“We are trying to fix their schedule, getting them to attend classes in the morning, then a tutorial before the training in the afternoon. We want to develop student athletes, emphasizing that the student part comes first before the athlete,” he ends.