Caloocan leaned on Joel Lee Yu’s back-to-back layups to stun Batangas, 73-72, on Wednesday and rev up its drive in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Villar Coliseum in Las Pinas.
The Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters had a chance to reverse the outcome, but Jeckster Apinan missed a floater jumper with 2.6 left, allowing the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo to escape with their seventh win against four losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
With Joseph Manlangit at the helm, Caloocan led by as many as 44-32 and by 67-63 midway through the fourth quarter. Manlangit finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, followed by Joco Tayongtong with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and Paul Sanga with 11 points.
Batangas regained the lead, 72-71, on a triple by Juneric Baloria with 1 minute and 27 seconds to go, but Yu handed the Rum Masters their fourth loss in 14 starts with his second drive.
The Rum Masters got 16 points from Kris Porter and 12 points, 14 rebounds, plus 4 assists from Cedric Ablaza.
Earlier, the South Cotabato Warriors subdued the Mindoro Tamaraws, 107-91, to climb to 10-4.
Enzo Joson paced the Warriors with 22 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, followed by Jervy Cruz with 19 points and 6 rebounds, and Kyle Tolentino with 12 points and 6 rebounds.
The Tamaraws slid to 4-10 despite the 21-point, 7-assist, 6-rebound effort of Andres Desiderio and the 21-point, 6-rebound output of Ken Bono.
The MPBL goes to the Paco Arena on Thursday with a triple bill pitting Quezon against Sarangani at 4 p.m., Imus against Bicolandia at 6 p.m. and Zamboanga against Rizal at 8 p.m.
