DEFENDING champion Pampanga and former titlist San Juan sustained their hot runs with contrasting wins in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season on Monday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The Pampanga Giant Lanterns outran and outgunned the Manila SV Batang Sampaloc Stars, 92-63, to remain on top while the San Juan Knights rallied to subdue the South Cotabato Warriors, 88-79, and tighten their grip on the second spot in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 29-team tournament.
Pampanga chalked its 23rd straight victory after an initial loss while San Juan notched its 13th straight and climbed to 22-1. They pulled away from Nueva Ecija and Quezon Province, both with 18-3 slates, in the overall standings.
Trailing, 42-54, early in the third quarter, the Knights knotted the count at 61 following back-to-back triples by Agem Miranda.
Orlan Wamar sparked that San Juan comeback with 11 straight points against a bucket by Marwin Dionisio, 55-56, en route to clinching the Daily Fantasy best player honors.
San Juan, the 2019 MPBL champion, took control with a closing 9-point run in the third quarter, 70-63, and sealed South Cotabato’s 10th loss in 25 starts with an 8-point cluster, 88-75, at the 1 minute and 32 seconds mark.
Wamar wound up with 23 points, including 4 triples, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, AC Soberano with 19 points, Dexter Maiquez with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Miranda with 10 points and 5 assists.
South Cotabato got 11 points from Dionisio and 10 from JP Calvo.
Unlike San Juan, Pampanga was in command throughout.
Powered by Archie Concepcion, Encho Serrano and Justine Baltazar, Pampanga led by as far as 92-60 in pulling Manila down to 16-8.
Concepcion posted 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists and was chosen best player over Serrano, who tallied 23 points and 3 rebounds, and reigning MVP Baltazar, who barely missed a triple-double with 10 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists on top of 2 steals in a solid match-up against Greg Slaughter.
The 7-foot Slaughter chalked 21 points and 11 rebounds, but no other Star tallied twin digits.
Pouncing on their slower rivals, the Giant Lanterns poured in 25 fastbreak points against only 6 for the Stars.
Serrano and Concepcion fired 15 and 11 points, respectively, in the first half to lift Pampanga to a 47-30 spread from which Manila couldn’t recover.
Earlier, Mindoro subdued Bacolod, 114-103, to improve to 8-16.
With five players submitting twin digits, the Mindoro Tamaraws surged ahead, 46-22, and proceeded to relegate Bacolod to the cellar at 1-23.
Jayvee Dela Cruz posted 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, Lester Reyes tallied 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while homegrown Jhon Jerrick Caspe barely missed a triple-double with 19 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 2 steals.
Other Tamaraws who delivered were Rudy Lingganay with 14 points and 5 rebounds and Kint Ariar with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.
Bacolod got 18 points from Rasham McCarthy, 16 from Yvan Ludovice and 14 from Alfred Sedillo.
The MPBL returns to the Caloocan Sports Complex on Tuesday with games pitting Zamboanga against Bulacan at 4 p.m., Bataan against Quezon Province at 6 pm., and Rizal against Caloocan at 8 p.m.
