Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines pounced on a cold Batangas City Embassy Chill in the fourth quarter to tally a 63-53 victory and force a Game 3 decider for the South division crown of the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season Presented by Xtreme at the people-packed Batangas City Coliseum.
Both teams struggled on offense in the last ten minutes, but the Zamboanguenos’ fared better with 15 points, 9 courtesy of Adrian Santos, who matched the 9-point output of the entire Batangas crew.
Santos, a former Batangas player, wound up with 13 points and 8 rebounds and was named best player of the game.
Jhaps Bautista led the Zamboanga scorers with 17 points, although he was held to 3 points in the second half.
Zamboanga’s Top Gun Jaycee Marcelino wound up with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals.
Batangas got 13 points and 10 rebounds from Cedric Ablaza and 11 points and 8 rebounds from Jeckster Apinan.
Zamboanga, which lost to Batangas in the series opener, 71-80, at home, will assume the favorite’s role when the series returns to the Vitaliano Agan Coliseum for the concluding Game 3 with the winner advancing to the National Finals against the victor of the North division title series between Nueva Ecija and San Juan.
The Athletics trailed by as far as 9-24, but rallied to knot the count at 28 with 4:03 to go in the second quarter.
Zamboanga regained the lead on two charities by Santos, but Batangas countered with a 6-point run to close the half ahead at 34-30.