Archers dismantle Warriors; Tams win

Games on Wednesday (Mall of Asia Arena)

2 p.m. – FEU vs UE

4 p.m. – AdU vs NU

MANILA, Philippines - An erratic La Salle ironed out a 60-58 squeaker over an erstwhile unbeaten University of the East side to post what coach Juno Sauler described as a “lucky win” yesterday in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Green Archers, who bungled a number of possessions in the face of stifling full-court press of UE, still found a way to turn the game around  from a 10-point deficit and emerge victorious in the end.

“We were lucky to pull this one through with 36 turnovers,” said Sauler whose team surrendered 19 points to UE off their miscues.

La Salle improved to 2-2 after dropping its first two assignments while Warriors absorbed their first loss in three starts.

The Archers still trailed by nine at 41-50 going to the last 8:05 but unleashed a furious fightback behind Jeron Teng and rookie Prince Rivero to claw their way back and steal the win.

Teng rifled in seven of his game-high 18 points in the payoff and found a sparring partner in forward Rivero, who scored all of his eight points in the clutch. The 6-2 Rivero, left to man the paint following the fouling-out of Jason Perkins and Arnold van Opstal, knocked down a big basket off a Teng feed to give DLSU a 60-56 cushion with 44.1 seconds left.

“They defended well in the fourth quarter, I think we gave up 12 points (to UE). That was big, that made the difference,” said Sauler.

Roi Sumang punched in 16 for UE but bungled his potential game-tying attempt at the buzzer.

Earlier, Far Eastern U shifted to high gear in the third period to run away with an 85-71 rout of University of the Philippines and get back on the winning track.

The Tams choked the Maroons to measly one-of-16 shooting on the floor (six percent) in the fateful third to rip the game apart and set the tone for their second win in three outings, a feel-good victory after their 67-69 loss to Santo Tomas last week.

“We treated this game as a very important one, especially coming off a loss,” said FEU coach Nash Racela. “I think the previous loss gave us a lot of lessons and those were the things we tried to work on the past days.”

Cranking it up on defense, the Tams allowed only one field goal for UP.

 and eight points in the penultimate stanza and raced ahead to  a 70-46 tear behind a fluid team game.

“I always talk about the inconsistency of the team. We could be very good at times, we could be very bad at times. That third quarter (showing), that’s how our game should be played - no forced shots,just feeling the game get into them, getting the team game going,” said Racela, whose wards led by as many as 26 points ,at 78-52.

In a balanced assault, five FEU stalwarts scored in double figures, led by Mike Tolomia with 18 plus three assists. Mac Belo (12), Roger Pogoy (11), Carl Cruz (11) and Anthony Hargrove (10) joined in scoring fray.

JR Gallarza fired 18 points for while Dave Moralde and Kyles Lao added 14 and 10, respectively, for the Fighting Maroons who dropped to 0-4 this season and 0-25 dating back to 2012.