The Quezon Huskers turned hot in the fourth quarter and rallied to beat the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers, 83-78, on Wednesday and regain traction in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season elimination round at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
Trailing, 56-69, the Huskers clustered 20 points, highlighted by Judel Fuentes’ 13 straight, in 5 minutes and 12 seconds to seize control at 76-69, snapping their two-game slide and climbing to 17-2 in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
Fuentes finished with 33 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists to earn the Daily Fantasy Best Player honors. Jason Opiso provided support with 10 points and so did LJ Gonzales with 8, all in the last quarter where he and Fuentes outscored the entire Rizal crew 21-14.
Other Huskers who delivered were Ximone Sandagon with 7 points and 4 rebounds and Gab Banal with 6 points plus 6 rebounds.
The Golden Coolers, behind Alwyn Alday, Kraniel Villoria and John Apacible, surged ahead 57-44, halfway through the fourth quarter but couldn’t sustain their fire and drop to an 11-10 slate.
Alday wound up with 29 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Villoria tallied 11 points, 11 rebounds plus 6 assists, and Apacible 14 points plus 5 rebounds.
In other games, Paranaque subdued Quezon City TODA Aksyon, 74-62, and Bicolandia nipped Bulacan, 73-72.
The Parañaque Patriots, drawing firepower, from JR Olegario, John Uduba and Paolo Castro, pulled away at 62-43 and never wavered en route to a 13-8 card.
Olegario notched 21 points and 3 steals, Castro 11 points and 5 rebounds, and Uduba 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Patriots, who struck from long range, sinking 9 of 19 triple tries for a high 47.4 conversion rate.
Quezon City, which skidded to 9-12, got 13 points from Hubert Cani and 11 from Michael Are.
The Bicolandia Oragons banked on John Edcel Rojas’ jumper with 10 seconds left to edge the Bulacan Kuyas and improve to 3-18.
Rojas wound up with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Shaquille Alanes 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, and Chris Javier 11 points plus 12 rebounds for Bicolandia.
The Bulacan Kuyas fell to 2-20 despite Jason Celis’ 23 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, John Cayno Carandang’s 14 points and 12 rebounds, Jan Baltazar’s 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and Eric James Jabel’s 10 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena on Thursday with games pitting South Cotabato against Valenzuela at 4 p.m., San Juan against Pasay at 6 p.m., and Bacolod against host Binan at 8 p.m.
