Cebu and Pasig won in contrasting fashion on Monday, July 6, in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Cebu Greats battered the Negros Hacienderos, 124-77, in the opener, while the Pasiguenos leaned on a soaring drive by Warlo Batac with 8.7 seconds left to nip the Mindoro Tamaraws, 69-68, in the nightcap of another triple bill in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 27-team tournament.
Mindoro blew its final play as Bambam Gamalinda turned the ball over to Jacob Galicia with just 3 seconds to go, allowing Pasig to jump to sixth place in the North division.
Galicia finished with 17 points, seven in the fourth quarter, 7 rebounds and 2 steals to clinch the SportsPlus best player honors over Batac, who posted 11 points, six in the last 2 minutes and 44 seconds, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals; and homegrown Jerome Garcia with 13 points and 2 assists.
“We poured it all out as we need to recover from three straight losses,” said Galicia.
The outcome could have been different for the Tamaraws, who dropped to 7-8, had John Apacible made at least one of four charities in the last five minutes.
Gamalinda chalked up 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, followed by Apacible with 12 points and 9 rebounds, and JJ Caspe, with 11 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
Cebu started with a 10-0 spurt and was never headed to notch its sixth straight win and climb to 13-3 in the race for playoff spots.
Homegrown acquisition Elmer Echavez struck the hardest for Cebu with 19 points and 17 rebounds, followed by five other Greats in double figures.
The 6-foot-2 Echavez was named the best player over Simon Camacho, who posted 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Ron Dennison, with 12 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds.
Fil-Am CJ Payawal contributed 11 points and 3 rebounds, Alvin Baetiong 10 points and 5 rebounds, and Mark Meneses, 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in less than 12 minutes of play for Cebu, which trails Binan (14-2) and Batangas (12-2), and is ahead of Binan (12-3) in the South division.
Negros, which fell to 1-13, drew 17 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds from Achie Inigo, 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists from Reymar Caduyac, and 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals from Mike Alvarez.
Exploiting their height advantage, the Greats ruled the boards, 78-43, and outscored the Hacienderos, 68-30, in the paint.
“We won because of our defense, all-out effort, and helping each other out,” said Echavez, a 26-year-old forward from the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars.
Bataan dumps Imus
The Bataan Risers dumped the Imus Yangkee, 98-50, in the second game and remain in playoff contention with a 6-9 card.
Robbi Darang paced Bataan with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, followed by Jeff Santos with 14 points and 3 rebounds, Christian Balagasay with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Migs Corteza with 11 points, and Joshua Gallano with 8 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists.
Imus tumbled to 2-9 as no Yangkee could score in double figures.
The tournament returns to the Batangas City Coliseum on Tuesday, featuring games between Basilan and Marikina at 4 p.m., Zamboanga and Rizal at 6 p.m., and Batangas and Valenzuela at 8 p.m.
