JERIC TENG. Photo by Celest Flores
MANILA, Philippines—Jeric Teng’s face was covered in frustration as he sat in pain on the floor of the hallway leading to the dugout at Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday—his return from a four-game layoff.
Teng, who is healing from a right shoulder injury, barely sweat when he injured his right hamstring with 4:30 left in the second quarter of the University of Santo Tomas’ match against National University.
What was feared to be a tear was initially ruled by Teng’s doctor as just muscle spasms. The senior guard manage to rejoin his team on the bench later on.
“Sabi ng doctor ko. Spasms lang. I-check parin tomorrow,” Teng told reporters. “Parang nahila or nag-snap. Pero pag tingin kanina sa ultrasound, parang wala naman daw tear. Baka talaga na-spasm lang.”
But even as UST’s top gun managed to heave a sigh of relief as the pain in his hamstring isn’t threatening, the frustation was a bit harder to shake off as the Tigers later absorbed a 65-71 loss to the Bulldogs.
“I’m very frustrated kasi di ako makatulong sa team. That’s the worst feeling. Tapos talo pa kami,” said Teng, who added his desire to contribute in his last five games with UST.
“I wanted to play, pero pinakiramdaman ko tapos feel ko magiging liability lang ako sa kanila. Mahirap naman ipilit. Di ako makagalaw ng maayos,” he also said.
Teng, who said that he might have overworked himself in his eagerness to be in game shape for his return, only clocked in 10 minutes with just two markers.
“Siguro I overworked myself. Last week lang ako na-clear, last Saturday. Siguro napadami extra ko. One of the reasons siguro.”
Without Teng of the floor, the Tigers had one less offensive option as they tried to weather the Bulldogs’ smooth flowing attack.
NU made sure all game that UST couldn’t catch its breath as it chalked up 25 points from fastbreaks, on top of its remarkable 20 assists.
“Ito siguro worst game namin for quiet sometime,” Teng admitted. “We were outhustled, outworked, lahat talaga. Walang aggresive [samin]. Frustrated yung mga players, walang nag-uusap, kaya ganun ka tambak.”
Teng said that head coach Pido Jarencio, who left shortly after the post-game huddle, urged the Tigers to battle on the court with more heart— which has been the team’s battlecry since the fiery coach took over.
“Frustated narin sya [coach Pido] eh. Throughout the week, okay naman ensayo pag dating ng game nag-iba. Sabi nya samin, di kami mananalo if we don’t play with our hearts. Kasi kanina wala talaga.”
With the danger of falling out of contention with only a few games left in the elimination round, Teng said that UST will just take it a game at a time.
“Wala na kami pwede i-talo. One game at a time lang. Di pa namin iniisp kung papasok kami, basta next game ang fcous namin.”