MANILA swamped Bicolandia, 128-86, while Rizal edged Iloilo, 70-68, on Thursday in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Orion Sports Center in Bataan.
The Manila SV Batang Sampaloc Stars led throughout and by as far as 108-61 in chalking their 17th win against 7 losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 29-team tournament.
The Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers, on the other hand, rode on Jerie Pingoy and Jeric Serrano endgame heroics to raise their record to 13-11
Pingoy drilled in two charities with 48.9 seconds to go, while Serrano scored four in a 10-point homestretch run by Rizal then split his two free throws in the last 12.7 seconds for the final count.
Serrano posted 10 points and 8 rebounds to clinch the Daily Fantasy best player honors over Rocky Acidre, who tallied 12 points and 4 rebounds, and Kraniel Viloria with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Though the Golden Coolers made only 23 of 80 field goal attempts, they compensated with more points from turnovers (20-6) and second-chance points (28-11) to pull the United Royals down to 8-15 and virtually out of contention for the top 8 playoff slots in the South Division.
Manila, assured of a playoff spot in the North Division, drew 29 points from Rabeh Al-Hussaini, 26 from Tonino Gonzaga, 12 from Carl Bryan Cruz, 11 from 7-footer Greg Slaughter and 10 from Joshua Torralba.
Also-ran Bicolandia (3-20) got 22 points from Shaquille Alanes and 20 from Lord Hower Casajeros.
Bataan trounced Pangasinan, 102-88, in the nightcap to make it back-to-back and rise to 7-16.
The Bataan Risers, powered by Robbi Darang and Yves Santos with 23 points each, pulled away at 82-62 and never looked back to pull the Pangasinan Heatwaves down to 9-15.
Darang, who pumped in 19 points in the second half, added 6 assists and 3 steals, while Sazon added 6 rebounds.
Other Risers who delivered were Jeff Santos with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and James Castro with 11 points and 3 assists.
Pangasinan got 19 points and 11 rebounds from Nathaniel Cosejo, 18 points from Michael Juico, and 10 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds from Joshua Fontanilla.
The MPBL goes to the University of Bangued Gymnasium on Saturday with a triple bill pitting Imus against Pasay at 4 p.m., Binan against Sarangani at 6 p.m., and Valenzuela against host Abra at 8 p.m.
