De La Salle U too much for UST

Cris Camus of UST and Jarelan Tampus of La Salle both fall on the floor during their game Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, at the 74th season of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Archers got a scare after the Tigers whittled down their 20-point lead to one at the closing seconds of the game but held on to win, 74-71. AUGUST DELA CRUZ/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines – De La Salle University exploited its size advantage to defeat University of Santo Tomas, 78-70, Saturday in the 2012 FilOil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup at the San Juan Arena.

Norbert Torres led the way with 16 points and 12 rebounds, half of which were at the offensive glass, as the Green Archers dominated the boards, 52-35.

“It’s a great win for us in terms of getting confidence. This game against UST gave us a push especially for our rookies,” said DLSU head coach Gee Abanilla.

Prized rookie Jeron Teng scored 12 of his 14 points at the line on top of four rebounds.

Another newcomer Mark Tallo gave the Archers a lift with six points, six rebounds and four assists.

La Salle had 24 offensive rebounds which translated to 20 second chance points.

UST set the tone early led by the returning Aljon Mariano but poor execution from its second unit allowed De La Salle to get its game going.

Mariano had a game-high 19 points. Jeric Fortuna and Kevin Ferrer chipped in with 13 each.

Both teams missed the services of its key players.

The Growling Tigers played without Karim Abdul due to a flu while the Archers bucked the absence of LA Revilla, Jarelan Tampus and Yutien Andrada because of injuries.