Resilient Jeron Teng grateful to be playing basketball again

It was just over a month ago when Alaska rookie Jeron Teng survived his most harrowing experience.

A simple taunt turned ugly when Teng and his former teammates in La Salle, Norbert and Thomas Torres ended up in the hospital with multiple stab wounds.

With that incident behind him, Teng is back up and contributing for the Aces in the semifinals of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

In a playoff game against mighty San Miguel, Teng looked as if nothing had happened, putting up solid numbers of 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 21 minutes of play.

It was Teng’s best game since his return and although it ended in a 105-94 loss, he’s just happy to be back doing the job he loves.

“It just feels so good to be playing basketball again,” said Teng in Filipino in an article on PBA’s official website. “I’m just happy to be back again, playing and helping my teammates.”

Teng averaged 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in his three games back from the incident and Aces head coach Alex Compton said Teng is playing above and beyond of what he’s asked to.

“I thought he did a great job,” said Compton. “It’s been a crazy time for Jeron but for him to start to get his timing back and play more, be in better shape, I don’t think you would think that Jeron got stabbed a month ago and we’d be worried about his life at the hospital.”

“If you watched the game and didn’t know the situation, you would never have thought that happened. He kind of personified what we wanted, everybody mixing it up, getting after it, and playing hard,” added Compton.