Archers survive Falcons to force four-way logjam at 3rd

MANILA, Philippines -- The  DLSU Green Archers snapped their skid but not after surviving a gritty Adamson Falcons in a 70-67 Wednesday thriller in the 76th season of the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

La Salle went through a wringer before pulling off its third win in six games to climb back to .500. 

Adamson forged a scintillating 15-0 blast in the payoff period to tie the game at 65-all with 1:20 remainig.  But La Salle steadied at the line down the stretch. 

Jeron Teng, who has been struggling at the stripes, answered the call for the Green Archers as he sank two free throws with 41.9 seconds left to take the lead back, 67-65.

The Falcons bungled their chance when Gian Abrigo committed an errant foul with 15.9 ticks left to seal their fate. It counted as an automatic unsportsmanlike incursion as the foul was committed in a dead ball situation under the last two minutes of regulation.

Norbert Torres extended the Archers' lead to four, 69-65, with clutch free throws then watched Abrigo turned the ball over allowing La Salle to catch victim Adamson and idle UE and NU with identical 3-3 win-loss records. 

Torres visited the the free throw line anew and split his charities while Abrigo was fouled in a non-bearing trey and made two freebies for the final count.

"I'm still not satisfied with the win.  We need to learn to play better and finish well," said DLSU coach Juno Sauler. "We are playing great for the first three quarters and we just need to sustain that in the fourth."

Torres and Jason Perkins punched in 13 points apiece while Teng and Almond Vosotros added 12 and 11 points, respectively, in a balanced offensive effort from the Green Archers.

DLSU dominated at the start of the game to the tune of an 18-7 advantage in the first quarter while nothing went right for Adamson.

With the game turning into a blowout early in the game, the Falcons mustered a 14-0 blast capped off by Trollano's two free throws to cut the deficit 26-22 at the 2:23 mark.

The Green Archers countered with a 9-0 closing run to take a 35-22 lead at the break as Teng racked up 10 first half points to lead La Salle.