Caloocan silenced Bataan in the third quarter en route to a 60-52 victory on Friday in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season elimination round at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
Mindoro shared the spotlight when it squeaked past Manila SV Batang Sampaloc, 78-77, behind three free throws by Jayvee Dela Cruz with 1.1 seconds left.
The Batang Kankaloo held the Bataan Risers to four points in that span while coming through with 26 to seize control, 51-34, and tally their 11th win against 7 losses.
Trailing, 25-30, at halftime, the Batang Kankaloo greeted the third quarter with a 16-point cluster, 8 courtesy of Jeramer Cabanag, to pull ahead at 41-30.
Rhaffy Octobre ended Bataan’s dry spell with a bucket at 4:40, but the Batang Kankaloo countered with a 10-2 run and proceeded to pull the Risers down to 5-16.
Hounded by poor field goal (19 of 64 tries) and free throw (8 of 19 attempts, the Risers fell behind by as far as 34-51.
Cabanag wound up with 16 points and 5 rebounds, followed by Gabby Espinas with 9 points and 10 rebounds and Ronnie Matias with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Bataan got 17 points and 6 rebounds from October and 9 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists from Edrian Ramirez.
Hounded by poor field goal (19 of 64 tries) and free throw (8 of 19 attempts, the Risers fell behind by as far as 34-51.
Manila moved ahead, 76-67, with 1 minute and 17 seconds left following successive triples by Joshua Torralba, Jimboy Pasturan and Torralba, but the Tamaraws closed out with 11 points, 8 by Dela Cruz, against a charity by Torralba to post their second stunner and improve to 7-15.
The Tamaraws, who also bested the Quezon Huskers (66-61) on August 3, drew 25 points, highlighted by 4 triples, 6 rebounds and 6 assists from Dela Cruz, 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists from Ken Bono and 10 points plus 5 rebounds from Tey Teodoro.
Manila, which suffered its first loss with 7-footer Greg Slaughter around, dropped to 15-6 as Torralba and Pasturan wound up with 13 points each and Rabeh Al-Hussaini contributed 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Slaughter ended up with 8 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes of play.
The Iloilo United Royals rallied to beat the Muntinlupa Cagers, 63-58, in the opener and climb to 8-13.
Ry Aijer De La Rosa led the United Royals, who halted a four-game slide, with 14 points and 4 rebounds, followed by AJ Madrigal with 11 points and 3 assists.
Muntinlupa tumbled to 7-14 despite the 16-point, 3-assist effort of Alfred Flores and the 11-point, 4-rebound output of Jasper Cuevas.
The MPBL returns to the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Balanga City on Saturday with games pitting Sarangani against Davao at 4 p.m., Batangas against Zamboanga at 6 p.m., and Nueva Ecija against Pangasinan at 8 p.m.
