SIX years ago on January 5, Jeron Alvin Teng, who last month snared his second University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championship (2013 and 2016) and Finals Most Valuable Player award with the De La Salle University Green Archers to cap his remarkable five-year collegiate tenure, carved his niche in Philippine basketball history when he became the first high school player (from Xavier School) ever to chalk up 100 points or more in an official game.
Before a sparse audience of nearly 700 people at the state-of-the-art Jacinto Tiu Court in Xavier School’s Father Cortina Center in San Juan City, the bull-shouldered 6-2 Teng exploded for 104 points in propelling the host Golden Stallions to a 164-74 shellacking of Grace Christian College in a Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association (MMTLBA) contest.
Jeron’s scintillating act as a high school junior was well-documented for on my own initiative, I took a picture of him holding a paper with the numbers 104 in penciled black ink written on it (the photo eventually found its way in the three major dailies without any due credit to the photographer) to immortalize the greatest scoring performance by a local high schooler at the time. The entire 40-minute game also was videotaped (in DVD form) for posterity purposes.
In his massive 104-point wizardry, the son of former professional defensive specialist Alvin Teng shot 37-for-70 from the field (including 1-for-5 from the three-point area) and was 29-for-34 from the free-throw line while playing 35:22 minutes for eventual Tiong Lian titlist Xavier School. Jeron registered quarter scores of 27, 16, 25 and 36 points and collected 24 rebounds (20 of them off the offensive glass), six steals and two blocked shots. (He did not issue a single assist, though.)
Overall, the then-16-year-old Jeron averaged 39.5 points in 16 games (15-1 win-loss record) during the January-started 2011 MMTLBA season to shatter elder brother and current pro Jeric’s own 39.3-point clip also with the champion Golden Stallions in 2009 as a high school senior.
Jeron’s national high school scoring record stood for more than two years until underpublicized Clark Quijano of AMA Computer University knocked in 120 points – including 100 (59 and 41) in the first half – during the Junior Titans’ 166-85 rout of Lord’s Grace Christian School on October 20, 2013 in the 7th Mariano Bondoc Cup tournament at the Hope Christian Academy gym in Fairview, Quezon City. (Note: Another Grace Christian school was the victim.)
That effectively established a new all-time mark for most points by a high school player in Philippine cage annals.
The 6-foot Quijano went 59-41-20 during the first three 10-minute quarters before his coach graciously benched him in the entire fourth frame.
Sadly, Quijano did not have as much success as Jeron had during their respective collegiate careers.
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