Teng vows to be back better next season after La Salle’s early exit

Jeron Teng vows to play in his final year for La Salle. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Jeron Teng walked off the floor with his head dipped and disappeared into the Smart Araneta Coliseum tunnel.

Rest assured, an embarrassing loss to Far Eastern University with De La Salle’s season on the line won’t be the last time Teng will be seen clad in green-and-white.

“Of course, it’s a painful loss,” Teng told reporters after his Green Archers were sent to an early exit with a heartbreaking 71-68 loss to the Tamaraws Wednesday night. “This game was supposed to be our ticket for a playoff game against NU but we fell short.”

“Definitely [I will be back]. I don’t want my last game wearing the DLSU uniform ending like this.”

The fourth-year forward did all he could to extend La Salle’s season but not even scoring 10 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth could rescue the Archers from the charging Tamaraws, who stormed back from 12 points down in the last seven minutes behind Roger Pogoy and their bench players.

Teng also vowed to be back better than ever and make the most out of his final UAAP season next year.

“Definitely I’ll be back stronger next year,” Teng said. “This year I’ve learned a lot of lessons and I’ll be carrying it out to next year.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a better season.”

Next year, Teng will have back up in reinforcement Ben Mbala as well as several key returnees from this year’s line-up.