La Salle trips FEU in UAAP season 76 second round

MANILA, Philippines — La Salle tripped Far Eastern University, 75-66, Sunday in the UAAP season 76 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Green Archers banked on their strong first half, leading by as many as 22 points, to weather the Tamaraws’ fight back in the payoff period.

After FEU slowly chipped away its lead and down to two, 62-64, La Salle turned to Jeron Teng to stretch the lead back to nine with 3:13 to play.

But head coach Juno Sauler admitted he wasn’t satisfied La Salle committed 17 turnovers, and just three dimes in the second half which paved way for FEU’s comeback.

Teng had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Green Archers while Jason Perkins led with 18 points and 13 rebounds, including one which awarded La Salle an extra possession with 34.3 ticks to go.

When asked about Perkins’ performance, Sauler tersely said, “too many turnovers.”

But despite that, La Salle is off to a strong start in the second half of the competition as it improved to 5-4.

The Tamaraws, meanwhile, remained in idle first but absorbed their second straight setback in the second round.

Roger Pogoy and Mac Belo had 16 points each for FEU, which couldn’t get its triples to drop, especially down the stretch, and went 6-of-29.