Archers tame Tigers, move to solo 3rd spot

MANILA, Philippines -- La Salle relied on their stingy defense to edge out a gritty UST side pulling out a thrilling 67-60 victory in Season 77 of the UAAP men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday.

Teng erupted for 26 points while Van Opstal added 11 points for La Salle, which improved their record to 9-3 good for the solo third spot in the standings.

"UST played very well on both ends of the floor they made it really hard for us, their outside shots were falling we wanted to focus on Karim and Aljon," said DLSU coach Juno Sauler.

"We we're able to pull this off because of our defense. Our bigs did a good job on Karim and Aljon," he added as they limited the Tigers' duo combined for a lowly 5-of-27 field goal shooting.

UST held the lead, 60-58, after Abdul's two free throws with 2:32 left but DLSU upped their intensity on defense compounding the Tigers' woes on offense preventing them to score the rest of the way.

Arnold Van Opstal took advantage of a foul-weary Abdul for a strong finish to tie the game 60-all with 2:17 remaining.

Jeron Teng drained five free throws in the clutch while Kib Montalbo added two more for the final score.

DLSU is within striking distance for the crucial twice to beat advantage and Sauler is hoping they make the most out of their last two games.

"We just want to play well on Wednesday we have two game left we have to make the most out of our opportunities given to us," he said.

Ed Daquioag topscored for the Tigers with 19 points while Kent Lao and Abdul added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Espa?a-based squad.

UST dropped to 5-7 and is dangerously close to being eliminated from Final Four contention after two straight Finals appearance.