THE La Salle Green Archers hardly missed injured ace scorer Jeron Teng and suspended coach Aldin Ayo and prevailed in a fast-paced encounter with the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 97-81.
This handed the Green Archers their seventh straight win and the solo lead at the end of their first-round campaign in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.
The Green Archers proved unstoppable with their running game all throughout and were never in trouble after they enjoyed their biggest lead at 85-58 on big man Ben Mbala’s attacks early in the fourth period.
They were already ahead by 26, 62-36, in the remaining 7:28 of the third period, when Thomas Torres unloaded a triple before a sellout crowd of 16,212.
The Green Archers, led by Mbala with a double-double performance of 28 points and 13 rebounds, unraveled a blistering second quarter run that gave them full control of the game afterwards.
Mbala hit 15 points in the first half, while Andrei Caracut had 14 for the Green Archers, who played without ace scorer Teng, who is resting following surgery last Friday for a recurring ankle injury.
Ayo missed the game after he was suspended for his actions against a referee in the first half of their game with the University of the East Warriors last Wednesday.
Teng will miss more games if he needs more time to recover from his injury through therapy.
“This game is really a testimony of what coach Aldin teaches these players. He’s just responsible. Naging responsible sila throughout the game, na kahit ano pagawa namin, na kahit alam naming mahirap, at pagod na sila, they still found a way to submit to the coaches and the system,” said assistant coach Louie Gonzales as La Salle went on to claim their best start since 2002.
Gonzales added that Teng will be gone for a week, after recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs on his right ankle.
UAAP supporters in all shapes and sizes, and dressed in different colors showed up at the game. Only a handful of supporters answered the call of school authorities to wear black to protest extra judicial killings. Many fans ignored the call and expressed on Facebook and Twitter that politics and sports should never mix.
Meanwhile, the University of the East Warriors stepped up with their zone defense in the last period and turned the tables on the Adamson University Soaring Falcons, 64-57,their first win in seven games.
The Falcons absorbed their third setback in six matches.
Games Wednesday (Mall of Asia Arena)
2 p.m. Adamson vs UST
4 p.m. FEU vs NU