Red-hot Green Archers pummel Fighting Maroons for 4th straight win

Last Saturday, the UP Fighting Maroons had UST sweating for 2 quarters of action. Today, the DLSU Green Archers would not give them even 2 minutes. The Green Archers, led by a laser-focused Jeron Teng, blitzed the hapless Maroons for 50 first half points on 62.5% shooting, en route to a 74-53 blowout of cellar-dwelling UP. The Maroons’ 27th straight loss leaves them at the bottom of the standings with a 0-6 record, while La Salle’s 4th consecutive victory carves some space for itself near the top with a 4-2 slate. DLSU Superstar Jeron Teng easily posted his best game of UAAP Season 77, scorching the undersized UP line-up for 25 points, on 10/16 shots, and 11 rebounds.

The opening salvo had UP grab a quick 4-3 lead off point guard Mikee Reyes’ classy crossover-to-step-back 3-point shot, but that would be the first and only advantage the Fighting Maroons would have in the game. DLSU would explode for 17 unanswered points, burying UP early. DLSU would hit an eye-popping 75% of their shots in the first quarter, while the overwhelmed Maroons struggled their way to 21% shooting. At the end of the first, the Green Archers held what turned out to be an insurmountable 26-9 lead.

The laser-focused Archers continued their onslaught in the second period, with Jeron Teng alone draining 12 points in the quarter. After Fighting Maroon Kyles Lao’s layup and bonus free-throw trimmed DLSU’s lead to 18 points, 33-15, Teng would power a back-breaking 14-0 surge for the Archers. The irrepressible King Archer would punctuate the run with a rare 3-point dagger, inflating his team’s cushion to 47-15. At this point, Teng’s 18 points single-handedly outpaced the Maroon’s entire output. Lao, who would finish with a team-high 13 points on 14 shots in another futile effort for the winless Maroons, scored 4 more points in the second to cut the cruising La Salle squad’s lead to 50-24 with a half to play.

UP would start the second half on a 7-5 tear highlighted by Dave Moralde’s 4-point play. Teng would immediately score 5 straight points to extinguish whatever little hope the Maroons had. His free-throw make to put the Green Archers up 60-31 would be his last contribution for the all-but-over match. The quarter would actually end 16-14 in UP’s favour, but La Salle’s 24 point advantage heading into the fourth would prove too much for the Maroons to overcome.

The fourth period saw both coaching staffs send in mostly reserves with the game effectively decided. Almond Vosotros, who finished with 15 points fuelled by an exceptional 3/4 outing from beyond the arc, buried two straight triples to put La Salle up 70-45. The teams’ benchwarmers would trade baskets as DLSU coasted to the final buzzer.