Teng rues Archers’ early exit, vows better finish next season

MANILA, Philippines – Failing to lead his team to the Final Four for the first time in his UAAP career, La Salle star Jeron Teng vowed to atone and come back stronger for Season 79.

The Archers took the exit after squandering a 15-point lead in a catastrophic 68-71 loss to semis-bound Far Eastern Wednesday night. The stinging result put DLSU (6-8) one win short of forging a tie for fourth with holder National U (7-7), which went on to advance to the F4 against No. 1 Santo Tomas.

“It’s a painful loss for us, this would have been our ticket to a playoff with NU but we fell short,” said Teng.

The 21-year-old guard-forward had a relatively successful run in his previous years with La Salle. The Archers reached the semis on his rookie stint then they went all the way to the crown the next year. DLSU also made it to the F4 last year.

“I don’t want my last game wearing the DLSU uniform ending like this so definitely, I’ll be back stronger next year. This year, I learned a lot of lessons and I’m carrying it over to next year. Hopefully we’ll have a better season,” said Teng.

DLSU coach Juno Sauler said the lack of a legit threat at the post made it difficult for the team this season. Ben Mbala could have filled it up but he was declared ineligible for violating residency rules before the tourney.

“Our weakness is we have Prince (Rivero), who’s probably 6-2, at center and we had to compete against other teams which had centers who stand 6-6 and above. We don’t have any intimidating factor. If Ben were there, (he) may have made a difference,” he said.

To add to the woes in the shaded lane, the other big men in the DLSU roster – Abu Trater and Julian Sargent – suffered injuries late in the elims. Rookies Josh Torralba and Andrei Caracut had health issues along the way, too.

Sauler himself is reeling from his first ouster from the F4. Already there are some whispers a coaching change may be forthcoming and asked about it, Sauler said he’s ready for any eventuality.

“You always have to be ready for the future. If you’re not ready for the future, malaking problema yun,” he said.