NCAA: Teodoro pushes JRU past EAC in thriller

Tey Teodoro. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Teytey Teodoro came up in the clutch and carried Jose Rizal University over Emilio Aguinaldo College, 60-59, in the NCAA Season 92 Men’s Basketball Tournament Thursday at San Juan Arena.

Francis Munsayac gave the Generals the 59-58 lead with 11.1 seconds remaining left but it was Teodoro who had his foot on the clutch pedal shooting over the EAC point guard with 5.3 ticks left for the game-winner.

Teodoro may have provided the fireworks but Heavy Bombers head coach Vergel Meneses was not satisfied with how his team played.

“It was an ugly win but we’ll take it,” said Meneses, who also became prophetic with how his team’s playing. “It means we’re still not on the same level as Mapua, wala kami sa level ng San Beda, ibig sabihin nandun talaga kami sa baba.”

“The way we’re playing we’ll be out of the top four by the end of the season.”

JRU had a paltry shooting performance as it converted 25 of its 84 shots for a disastrous 29.76 percent clip but what the Heavy Bombers lacked in shooting, they made up for it in rebounding grabbing 63 boards, 31 of which came off in the offensive end.

Teodoro had a game-high 21 points while Mark Cruz added 14 for the 2-3 Heavy Bombers.

Abdoul Poutouochi, Abdul Wahab Abdul Razak, and Jordan Dela Paz were the board crashers for JRU combining for 36 rebounds.

Sidney Onwubere led the 1-4 Generals with 18 points and 19 boards.