With ace guard LA Revilla leaving early due to injury, La Salle turned to its suffocating defense to pluck out a much-needed win.
Putting the clamps down on the limping Adamson Falcons in the stretch, the Green Archers eked out a scrambling 56-52 win Sunday to snap their three-game bleeding in the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball action at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Revilla, the team’s steadying factor, headed out to the locker room with a sprained left ankle in the early going but rookie Jeron Teng stepped up big to help La Salle get its swagger back and improve its record to 3-3.
“It’s not the game that we visualized,” stated La Salle coach Gee Abanilla. “Good thing, the rookies perform really well and I’m hoping they could perform even more in the coming games.”
Top of that list was the six-foot-three Teng.
Arguably the most sought-after high school recruit in the off-season, Teng continued to live up to his billing as he pumped in 15 points, including three in the crunch that enabled the Green Archers to fend off a pesky Falcons side.
With his teammates taking care of the defensive chores, Teng drained the go-ahead lay-up off transition at the 1:12 mark then preserved his heroics with a split of his charities that pegged the final count with just 8.3 seconds remaining.
Teng, who also had 10 rebounds, got plenty of help from center Norbert Torres (12 markers and 13 boards) and Mac Tallo, who ably filled up the slack left by Revilla, with seven points.
"I think LA's injury threw us off a bit and Adamson played defensively well but we held on because of our defense which is the main focus of our team," added Abanilla.
“Our record doesn't show how good we've been, especially since they've been all close games,” he added.
Ryan Monteclaro topscored with 12 points for Adamson, who visibly missed the services of star forward Alex Nuyles, who is now ruled out of the season due to a nagging shoulder injury.
Rodney Brondial, who committed a crucial passing error in the stretch, added eight markers, the same output of Roider Carbrera but those failed to stop the Falcons from dropping to 1-4.
Despite the win, Abanilla wasn’t satisfied with his team’s performance especially from the free throw line where they bungled 12 of 18 attempts, saying: "I think it's a mental thing. I've been stressing to the boys that you have to be strong in your mind. We make our free throws in practice, but a lot of people have been harping about it and it gets in the minds of our boys.”
The scores:
La Salle (56) – Teng 15, N. Torres 12, Tallo 7, Andrada 6, Mendoza 5, Webb 4, T. Torres 3, Mangera 3, Vosotros 1, Van Opstal 0.
Adamson (52) – Monteclaro 12, Brondial 8, Cabrera 8, Rios 7, Cruz 7, Camson 5, Julkipli 2, Abrigo 2, Olalia 1, Tollano 0, Petelios 0, Etrone 0, Cabigas 0, Agustin 0.
Quarterscores: 18-13, 30-32, 43-40, 56-52
