Archers bounce back, hold off Maroons

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle bounced back from a sorry loss last week, repulsing a pesky UP squad, 96-84 victory in Season 76 of the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay Friday.

Nevertheless, the Archers said they are still adjusting to the tactics of new coach Juno Sauler.

"We're still getting used to Coach Juno's system. He wants a faster pace from us compared to our last game," said sophomore Jeron Teng. "In our practice coach emphasized our fast break because we had a slow pace against UST the last game."

The Archers had a balance scoring output to fuel their high-scoring game with five players scoring in double figures.

Teng and rookie big man Jason Perkins scored 20 points each to lead the La Salle, Almond Vosotros added 15 markers while Thomas Torres and Norbert Torres chipped in 14 points apiece.

UP last threatened after Henry Asilum buried a triple to cut the Maroon’s deficit,74-78, with 7:56 remaining

But La Salle quickly answered with 10-3 run capped by an Vosotros runner to give the Archers an 88-77 breather with 4:28 left.

Burly rookie Perkins finished the job, scoring the next eight points for the Archers to break the game wide open, mounting a 96-80 advantage with 1:47 left.

Joseph Marata led the Maroons 21 points while Kyles Lao and Renz Asilum added 18 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Diliman-baed squad, which remains winless in two games.

The Archers dominated the rebounding department in the first half, 26-16. They entered the break with a  48-44 advantage, but UP kept it close with eight 3-pointers, most of them coming in the second quarter.

Torres and Teng scored 10 points each to lead the Green Archers at the break while Marata punched in 10 of his own for the Maroons.