PASAY CITY, Philippines — De La Salle University may have taken a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three series against Ateneo de Manila University, but team captain Jeron Teng stressed the need for the Green Archers to play even better on Game 2.

After squandering an early 15-point advantage, La Salle needed a huge crunch-time effort from Teng for the Green Archers to come away with a 67-65 win over the Blue Eagles at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday.

Ateneo wrested the lead 65-64 with a little more than 30 seconds left in the game, before Teng converted the go-ahead lay-up with 15.1 seconds to go. He then went on to swat a potential game-winning attempt by Aaron Black in the next possession.

"Yung basket, instinct na lang 'yun," said Teng, who had only 10 points in the victory. "Ben (Mbala) did a good job in sealing, so I saw an opening, and that's why nakuha ko 'yung lay-up."

"Doon sa stop kay Aaron, crunch time na 'yun eh, so parang adrenaline na 'yun. Buti natamaan ko 'yung bola to get the stop."

It was far from a comfortable win for the Green Archers, as they were pushed to the limit by the same Blue Eagles team that had given them their lone loss of the season on November 5.

What initially looked like a blowout for La Salle turned into a gritty back-and-forth in the fourth quarter.

Teng could've been the hero a few seconds before the frantic exchange of baskets.

With 37.6 seconds left in the game and the Archers ahead 64-63, Teng buried a jumper that looked like it beat the buzzer. But replays showed he still had the ball in his hands as the shot clock expired, nullifying the shot.

When another opportunity came to seal the game, Teng delivered on offense with the layup and on defense with the swat on Black.

The Green Archers skipper made it clear that they cannot play the same way when they go for the clincher on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum — if only to spare fans from being on edge.

"I told my other teammates that we have to play better, better than this game," he said. "Parang kinabahan eh, kinakabahan kami."

"So dapat next game, we play better para hindi kabahan 'yung mga nanonood sa amin," he added.

Mbala, who had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the victory, agreed with the veteran forward.

"We started strong, but we were not able to sustain it," he said.

"That's something we should rectify during Game 2, to be able to sustain the same intensity from the beginning until the end."

The statistics bore out Mbala's concerns.

La Salle shot a fiery 56 percent from the field in the first half, where they built a 17-2 advantage in the first quarter and led 36-26 at the break.

But Ateneo went on a furious rally in the third quarter, sending timely double teams on Mbala while doing just enough to bother the other Green Archers' attempts from the perimeter.

La Salle wound up shooting 38.6 percent from the field. They compounded their troubles by missing 12 of 30 free throws.

"We have to be able to execute, no matter what type of defense they throw at us," Mbala stressed.

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