UST’s fourth quarter meltdown paves way for La Salle win

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle pounced on University of Santo Tomas’ fourth quarter meltdown and came away with a 73-67 win Saturday in the 2013 Filoil Filying Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena.

Overhauling a 56-61 deficit, the Archers took the first taste of the lead, 64-62 lead as new addition Jason Perkins powered his away past Karim Abdul with 3:51 left to play.

La Salle then struck harder against UST, which only scored 10 points in the payoff period, and two freethrows from Jeron Teng put the outcome beyond doubt with 17.2 seconds left.

A basket from Oda Tampus gave La Salle its biggest lead of the game at seven, 64-71.

Coach Gee Abanilla admitted, though, the Archers needed time to get into the groove, allowing the Growling Tigers to take control early.

“We were tight especially in the first half. We couldn’t execute well on both sides of the court,” said Abanilla after the game.

Jason Perkins, a recruit from the United States, took over and impressed in only his first game in the collegiate scene with 17 points, 13 rebounds — matching up well with UST’s Abdul.

Abdul hardly had impact, finishing with just three points and six boards in 27 minutes.

Jeric Teng and Aljon Mariano combined for all but eight of the Tigers’ ouput with 31 and 28 markers, respectively.

Abdul, Edcor Marata, and Kevin Ferrer were the three others in the scoring column as Clark Bautista, Paolo Pe and Louie Vigil were held scoreless.

The older Teng showcased his offensive prowess– but didn’t produce in the final 6:15 of the match, as the Archers completed their comeback even without the other Teng on the floor.

Aljon Mariano accounted for five of the last six of the Tigers, including a triple with under a minute to play to cut the lead into four.

Estong Ballesteros took over the coaching reins with head coach Pido Jarencio at the Petron game in the PBA.

The scores:

LA SALLE 73—Perkins 17, G. Reyes 13, Teng 10, Vosotros 10, N. Torres 6, T. Torres 4, Tampus 4, Montalbo 3, Van Opstal 2, Bolick 2, Haruna 2, Andrada 0, Paredes 0, M. Reyes 0.

UST 67—Teng 31, Mariano 28, Abdul 3, Marata 3, Ferrer 2, Daquioag 0, Pe 0, Lo 0, Sheriff 0, Bautista 0, Hainga 0, Tan 0, Vigil 0.

Quarters: 10-16, 34-34, 51-57, 73-67