AICC Manila outplayed San Juan City, 75-69, to take the No. 1 seeding in the quarterfinals of the FilBasket Subic Championship at the Subic gym Monday.
Four players scored in double figures for the Manila dribblers, who finished the round-robin eliminations with an 8-2 win-loss record.
Michael Mabulac paced with 19 points and eight rebounds, Michael Juico added 16 points and six boards, and Hesed Gabo and Jessie James Collado chipped in 10 points apiece for AICC Manila, who uncorked a 32-14 third-quarter run to erase its 32-22 halftime deficit and grab the 54-46 upperhand.
San Juan finished the elims at third place with a 7-3 mark despite Larry Rodriguez and Renato Ular teaming up for 22 points.
Meanwhile, Nueva Ecija edged MTrans Batangas City, 93-87, to clinch the No. 4 seeding.
Emil Renz Palma posted 18 points and 10 assists while Jerick Nacpil had 10 points and 10 boards for the Nueva Ecija Besprens, who emerged with the highest quotient after the tiebreak after finishing with similar 6-4 records with Pasig-Sta. Lucia, Medical Depot and Burlington EOG Sports.
MTrans, for its part, finished eighth with a 5-5 card.
Pasig-Sta. Lucia, meanwhile, got a big lift from Clark Derige and Jeron Teng in whipping Muntinlupa, 101-70.
Derige and Teng finished with 20 and 14 points for the Realtors, who took the No. 5 seeding while dealing Muntinlupa its 10th straight defeat to finish last.
The top 4 quarterfinalists—AICC Manila, Davao Occidental, San Juan and Nueva Ecija—carry twice-to-beat advantages against Pasig-Sta. Lucia, Medical Depot, Burlington and MTrans, respectively.
