The De La Salle Green Archers surrendered a double-digit lead and fell to the FEU Tamaraws, 74-70, on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
DLSU led by as much as 12 but allowed the Tamaraws 26 and 22 points, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters, which eventually helped seal the loss and snapped the defending UAAP champions’ seven-game winning streak.
La Salle falls to 7-3, in a three-way tie with Ateneo and NU for second place in the league standings. But per the UAAP quotient system, DLSU is currently in fourth place.
Down by eight with a little under three minutes to go, La Salle unfurled a 7-0 run that got the team within one. After Mike Tolomia made both his charities, Jeron Teng came back down on the offensive end to nail a tough layup, 71-70, in favor of the Tamaraws.
Tolomia got fouled again and made his first three throw not long after, but missed the second attempt. However, DLSU failed to box him out, leading to an easy lay-in for the FEU star and the loss.
Jeron Teng compiled 28 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in the loss, while Norbert Torres was the other lone double-digit scorer for DLSU, recording 13 markers.
Jason Perkins finished with just eight points on 4-of-15 shooting, while Almond Vosotros had seven markers while going 3-of-13 from the field.
Arnold Van Opstal had five points, while Julian Sargent and Kib Montalbo had four and three, respectively.
DLSU will look to bounce back against the Adamson Soaring Falcons on Sunday.
La Salle outrebounded FEU 55-43 but had 19 turnovers, while the Tamaraws had just nine.
DLSU, as a team, shot just 35% from the field and 22% from three-point range. The Green Archers also went 15-of-24 from the free throw line.
Scores:
FEU (74): Tolomia 22, Belo 11, Inigo 10, Pogoy 7, Escoto 7, Jose 5, Cruz 4, Hargrove 4, Tamsi 4, Dennison 0, Ugsang 0
DLSU (70): Teng 28, Torres 13, Perkins 8, Vosotros 7, Van Opstal 5, Sargent 4, Montalbo 3, Rivero 2, Bolick 0, Andrada 0, Tratter 0
Quartersores: 15-19, 26-35, 52-51, 74-70