UAAP: Green Archers overpower UST, force winner-take-all Game Three

With their season on the line, the DLSU Green Archers were successful in forcing a third and final game against the gritty UST Growling Tigers by pulling off a 77-70 win despite Jeric Teng’s game-high 28 points.

“Siyempre kailangan namin maging aggresive na, wala ng bukas eh,” Green Archer Jeron Teng said after the game.

Both teams endured rough starts in the first quarter until LA Revilla opening the scoring for DLSU with a corner three that got the Lasallian faithful to their feet. Jeric Teng responded by scoring UST’s first basket on the next possession, carrying over his solid showing in the first game. It was mostly a back-and-forth affair between both teams, with the lead changing six times, before DLSU went on an 11-0 run to close out the first with a nine point lead at 21-12.

This time, it was UST’s turn to play catch up as they were staring at a deficit that went up to as much as 17 points, 36-19, with six minutes left in the first half. Kevin Ferrer, UST’s star in the first game, scored his only basket of the game, and sparked a 12-2 run that cut the lead to 7, 38-31, with a minute and a half left before halftime. Jeron Teng and Norbert Torres brought the lead back to double digits, but John Sheriff trimmed the advantage to eight at 41-33 heading into halftime.

Jeric Teng and Clark Bautista opened the third with big threes to cut the DLSU lead to one, 44-43, before DLSU went on an 11-2 run, capped off by a basket from Torres to push their lead back to 12, 57-45. UST would not get any closer from then on. The graduating team captain scored five more points in the quarter and held his ground on the defensive end to keep UST at bay at 64-53 heading into the final quarter.

With their fate hanging in the balance, the Green Archers took charge of the final quarter as Jason Perkins, Jeron Teng, and Arnold van Opstal protected their lead and forced a do-or-die Game 3. Van Opstal’s array of hooks and layups were crucial in responding to the baskets of Karim Abdul and Clark Bautista and helped stretch DLSU’s lead to 14, 77-63, with four minutes left in the game. DLSU never scored from there but key stops and crucial rebounds helped them seal the win.

Jeron Teng led the charge for the Green Archers with 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals. LA Revilla scored nine points and had a surprising 10 rebounds, out rebounding the likes of UST’s Abdul and Mariano.

Despite his game-high 28 points, Jeric Teng didn’t have much help as Abdul was the only other UST player in double figures with 13. Ferrer, who shot 62 percent from three in the first game, was zero of three in this game and mostly scored his six points from the free throw line.
The Green Archers destroyed the Tigers in the rebounding department, going for 57 boards and limiting UST to 39. Offensive rebounding was key as DLSU had more than double of UST’s offensive rebounds, 27 to 10. The lead changed hands six times, but it was all in the first quarter as DLSU never surrendered the lead in their most crucial game of the season.

Game 3 will be next Saturday, October 12, at 3:30 PM, this time in the Mall Of Asia Arena. Both teams battle it out in a winner-take-all affair for all the marbles and this game will be the last played for the season. When the dust settles, only one team can remain.

The Scores:

DLSU 77 – Teng 19, N. Torres 16, van Opstal 13, Vosotros 11, Revilla 9, Perkins 7, T. Torres 2

UST 70 – Teng 28, Abdul 13, Mariano 9, Sheriff 6, Ferrer 6, Bautista 6, Lo 2, Pe 0, Daquioag 0

Quarterscores:

21-12, 41-33, 64-53, 77-70