Not this time.
Despite having their 10 point lead cut down to two at the fourth quarter, the De La Salle University Green Archers showed their rock-solid composure by preventing another late-game meltdown, dealing the Far Eastern University Tamaraws their second consecutive loss, 75 – 66 , today at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Jason Perkins played like his life depended on it by registering a double-double composed of 18 points along with 13 rebounds. Jeron Teng made up for his slightly lackluster performance against Adamson with 16 points whilst Almond Vosotros struck twice from beyond the arc to score 13. In addition, Arnold Van Opstal was only a point away from barging into La Salle’s double digit scorers list with 9 points and 6 rebounds.
Roger Pogoy registered a season high 16 points, surpassing even his record last season, coupled with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Mark Belo and Terrence Romeo, meanwhile, scored 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Rebounds spelled the difference for the Green Archers today as they thoroughly outhustled the Tamaraws under the board, 59 – 36, thus limiting FEU’s second chance points to just 8. De La Salle, however, committed 17 turnovers when compared to FEU’s 7.
It was a tight game from the start with both squads breathing on each other’s necks. Arnold Van Opstal and Jason Perkins, however, terrorized the Tamaraws’ backline and showed their dominance under the post, allowing La Salle to pull away and end the first quarter with a 9 point lead.
A trey by rookie Matt Salem resulted into La Salle completely dominating the match with a game high 20-point lead. Despite La Salle’s seemingly insurmountable lead, FEU managed to cut the lead down to two points thanks to a trey from a struggling RR Garcia in the fourth, forcing Coach Juno Sauler to call a much needed time out.
It all started to look like the first game where the Green Archers saw their double digit lead destroyed in less than two minutes. This time, however, they made sure that there won’t be another comeback.
Jeron Teng once again came up big for the Green Archers after draining a number of crucial baskets to keep FEU at bay. It was a downhill slope from then on as FEU failed to break their slump and succumb to their second consecutive loss after opening their second round campaign.
“We wanted to come into the game with what we worked on the past two weeks in between the first round and the second round. But I’m not really satisfied with the way we played, too many turnovers. We had 9 assists in the first half and only 3 on the second half because they [FEU] were able to catch up. We still have to do a better job all throughout the 40 minutes” said Coach Juno Sauler when asked about his team’s performance after the game.
With the win, the De La Salle Green Archers improve their slate with a 5 – 4 win-loss record to occupy solo 4th whilst the Tamaraws remain on top of the standings at 7 – 2. La Salle will face the University of the Philippines on August 24
It was reported that Maroons’ coach Ricky Dandan has resigned from the team.
Box Scores:
DLSU 75 – Perkins 18, Teng 16, Vosotros 13, Van Opstal 9, Salem 6, Monstalbo 5, Torres N. 4, Tampus 4, Revilla 0, Bollick 0
FEU – Pogoy 16, Belo 16, Romeo 12, Tolomia 7, Hargrove 6, Garcia 5, Cruz 4, Inigo 0, Sentcheu 0, Mendoza 0, Lee Yu 0, Jose 0, Dennison 0, Delfinado 0, Aguilon 0
Quarter Scores: 23 – 14 ; 44 – 33 ; 60 – 50 ; 75 – 66