MALOLOS—Stephen Siruma played a career game and the Bulacan Kuyas-Ligo Sardines stayed composed amidst repeated uprisings from the Paranaque Patriots-Gamboa Coffee before pulling off an 83-73 win in Game 1 of their MPBL-Anta Rajah Cup best-of-three quarterfinals series at the Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium here.
Siruma, the hardworking swingman, finished with a season-high 24 points to push the Kuyas closer to reaching the semifinal round of this event put up by Senator Manny Pacquiao, with former PBA Most Valuable Player Kenneth Duremdes serving as commissioner.
A back-to-back champion in the defunct Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League, Siruma had alraady tallied 17 by the end of the first half, the most scored by any player at half time in the MPBL.
With Siruma coming out more active on offense, the Kuyas raced to an early 24-8 lead, with 1:34 left in the opening quarter.
But in the second period, the Kuyas had a five-minute dry spell and the Patriots took advantage of that, unloading 15 unanswered points, capped by Juneric Baloria’s split charities that gave Paranaque its first taste of the lead, 28-27.
That long drought is something Bulacan will have to avoid, according to head coach Chris Baluyot, whose team has a chance of wrapping it up on Tuesday in Muntinlupa, home of the Angelis Resort-backed Cagers, who scored an 83-77 victory over the Navotas Clutch-Cagers behind Felix Apreku’s double-double performance.
Apreku, a do-it-all frontliner, finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks for the Cagers, who have a chance to atone from their opening-game loss against the same quarterfinal foe by wrapping up the series with another triumph on Tuesday.