Gritty La Salle earns big win over FEU

By Josiah Albelda Posted Aug 18th 2013

Against Far Eastern University, De La Salle University still didn't make their free-throws. Only this time, they didn't allow their woes from the line stop them from escaping with a hard-earned win.

The Green Archers missed 19 free-throw attempts but still downed the Tamaraws, 75-66, in the 76th UAAP men's basketball tournament Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

La Salle recovered from an early fourth quarter slumber to turn back FEU, who cut a 12-point lead to two before the Archers responded with a 7-0 blast to seal their fifth win in nine outings.

Coach Juno Sauler, however, isn't satisfied at all.

"I am not satisfied," Sauler said. "We had more turnovers than assists. We still have to do a good job all throughout the 40 minutes."

True enough, La Salle had 12 assists to 17 turnovers. But the Taft-based squad more than made up for it by hauling down 59 rebounds -- 20 of them on the offensive end.

Jason Perkins led the charge for the Archers with 18 points and 13 rebounds, working hard on securing second chances for the team with seven offensive boards.

Jeron Teng added 16 points and nine boards and led La Salle's fourth-quarter pullaway while Almond Vosotros chipped in with 13 markers and five rebounds and secured the win with free-throws.

"We still have a lot of things to improve on," added Sauler. "We're trying to really improve our defense because it sucked in the first round."

The Archers' defense held the Tamaraws to 33.8% shooting, with FEU stars RR Garcia, Terrence Romeo and Mike Tolomia combining to make just nine of 38 shot attempts.

Roger Pogoy paced the Morayta five with a season-high 16 points and nine rebounds while Mac Belo also delivered 16 markers as the Tamaraws lost their second straight game.

The scores:

DLSU (75) - Perkins 18, Teng 16, Vosotros 13, Van Opstal 9, Salem 6, Montalbo 5, N. Torres 4, Tampus 4, Revilla 0, Bolick 0

FEU (66) - 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

Quarters: 23-14, 44-33, 60-50, 75-66