La Salle Archers earn first win, Blue Eagles lose anew

The La Salle Green Archers finally earned their first win of the season while defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles fell to their second straight loss as Season 76 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament continued its wild and wacky run yesterday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

The Green Archers banked on their balanced scoring to beat the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 96-84.

Last year’s Rookie of the Year and Mythical Five member, Jeron Teng, bounced back from his sub-par season debut by logging 20 points, four assists and two steals while rookie Jason Perkins added 20 more on top of 13 rebounds to give rookie coach Juno Sauler his first win since taking over as head coach from Gee Abanilla nearly a month ago.

Almond Vosotros, Thomas Torres and Norbert Torres each had 14 points with the latter adding 17 boards as the Archers improved to 1-1 (win-loss) following their overtime loss to the University of Santo Tomas last Sunday. UP on the other hand, dropped to 0-2.

Former Archer Joseph Marata paced UP with 21 points and six rebounds while rookie guard Kyles Lao had 18 markers. Former Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu standout Henri Asilum had 12, all from beyond the arc.

TAMS GORE EAGLES

Meanwhile, the Far Eastern University Tamaraws pushed the Blue Eagles into unfamiliar grounds with a 79-75 overtime win.

The win gave FEU the solo lead with a 2-0 mark while Ateneo dropped to 0-2 for the first time since 2003. The Eagles played without star guard Kiefer Ravena who was still recovering from a sprained ankle.

Still, Ateneo played valiantly, erasing an 11-point deficit in the fourth period. Down 55-44 at the start of the final stanza, the Eagles rode the hot shooting of Ryan Buenafe to climb back into the thick of things and eventually tied the game at 66-all off two free-throws by Chris Newsome with 10.7 seconds left.

FEU had a chance to win the game outright but RR Garcia’s shot from the elbow was blocked by Ateneo’s Nico Elorde.

FEU remained relentless in overtime, taking a 73-67 lead after makes by Mike Tolomia and Terrence Romeo. Still Ateneo scrapped and tied the game at 73-all off free-throws by Juami Tiongson. The Tams then regained the lead, 77-73, after an inside basket by Cebuano forward Roger Pogoy and charity conversions by Romeo.

The Eagles came within two after two free-throws by Gwynne Capacio with 7.6 ticks left but Romeo scored at the final horn for the final tally.

Romeo led FEU with 21 points while Buenafe had 27 points and 15 rebounds for Ateneo.