La Salle outlasts Lyceum in fight-marred game

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle outmuscled a smaller Lyceum in a highly physical battle and eked out a fight-marred 70-64 victory to remain unscathed and closer to bitter rival Ateneo in Group B in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at The Arena in San Juan City on Friday.

Jeron Teng, who emerged the UAAP's Rookie of the Year last season, led the Archers with 19 points, the bulk of which coming from the free throw line where he went an impressive 13-of-15.

The Taft-based dribblers, who are way taller and bigger than the Pirates, pounced it inside a lot and won it from the line where they were given a league record 56 free throws, making 37 of it.

So undersized was Lyceum that it committed a whopping 36 fouls, which led to John Azores, Shaq Alanes, Vergel Evangelista, Daniel Garcia and Mark Francisco fouling out.

The game was momentarily halted when Jerimiah Taladua was shoved by La Salle's Norbert Torres for a hard foul he gave on a driving Gabriel Reyes in a transition play that sparked the bench-clearing incident and near brawl.

Taladua and Torres were assessed a flagrant foul each while La Salle's bench was slapped a technical foul for improper bench decorum.

Lyceum's Azores, Shaq Alanes and Wilson Baltazar and La Salle's Arnold Van Opstal Robert Bollick and Mat Salem were ejected for bench clearing.

La Salle thus remained one of the last two teams with an unbeaten record at 4-0 while cutting the lead of Ateneo, idle at 6-1 (win-loss) slate, to half a game in Group B.

"Good game for us because we were tested in a physical game," said La Salle coach Gee Abanilla. "In everything we prepare we want to compete, but mentally, we weren't there on this game."

Earlier, Aljon Mariano sizzled with 13 points in the fourth quarter as he powered University of Santo Tomas to an 83-79 squeaker over a stubborn San Sebastian for its second victory in as many defeats.

Trailing by a point entering the last period, Mariano went on attack mode and took over the quarter to carry the Tigers on their soldier.

The Stags, who were led by sensational rookie Jaymark Perez's 24 points, fell to their fourth defeat against two triumphs.