WHETHER it was career-high or not, Jeron Teng would gladly take the win for Alaska.
The shooting guard out of La Salle poured 14 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter to steer the Aces’ amazing comeback from 20 points down and stun Terrafirma, 102-97, in the PBA Governors Cup Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Jeron Teng on Alaska vs Terrafirma
Teng said he wasn’t aware he already surpassed his previous career high (28 points) as the adrenalin was still high following the backbreaking 33-11 run the Aces engineered to turn around a game the Dyip controlled for the most part.
“I just stayed super aggressive kasi we were down by 17 at one point. So my mindset was to really attack and look for my open teammates,” he said.
“Inside the court, I wasn’t really aware (career high). I was just aware of the scoreboard kung ilang points kami down.”
Teng shot 13-of-18 from the floor and added five rebounds, while personally leading the Alaska charge with the help from the team’s young bench led by rookie Allyn Bulanadi, Kent Ilagan, and Alec Stockton.
Coach Jeff Cariaso referred to Teng’s performance as "phenomenal."
But the 27-year-old Teng said the huge comeback win was a good test case for the streaking Aces, who now have won three straight games for solo third place at 5-2, including back-to-back victories since the announcement of this season being the last for the franchise.
“Alam ko na kaya namin. It was a good test of character. Even if we’re down by 20 at one point, we didn’t stop playing. We just push each other and thankful ako na nanalo kami,” said the son of former PBA big man Alvin Teng.
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