BATANGAS City Embassy Chill pulled away in the fourth quarter, beating Marikina, 99-93, on Saturday to gain a share of the lead in the MPBL Fourth Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Despite missing key players, Batangas surged ahead, 90-72, en route to their fourth straight victory, joining Sarangani OKBet and Bacolod Bingo Plus on top of the 22-team tournament.
Cedric Ablaza led Batangas with 24 points and 10 rebounds, John Rey Villanueva scored 23 and Vincent Importante had nine points and 10 rebounds.
Batangas, which played without starters Levi Hernandez, Juneric Baloria and Jeckster Apinan, showed depth as its bench contributed 73 points against only 24 from its Marikina counterparts.
Marikina drew 25 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals from Antonio Joson, 23 points from Kyle Tolentino, 21 points from Yves Sazon, and 10 points from JR Rallones but still fell short of matching Batangas' firepower.
Now being coached by Cholo Villanueva, Batangas appears ready to make another title-run, the way the Athletics did in the MPBL's inaugural season in 2018.
Other games saw Imus Bandera subdue the Manila Stars, 97-91, in overtime and Rizal Golden Coolers hand the skidding Pampanga Giant Lanterns another beating, 76-65.
Imus, which dropped its first two games, was powered by Leo Najorda with 18 points, homegrown star Ian Melencio with 17, Jessie Saitanan with 14 and Jacob Galicia with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Manila got 22 points from Dan Sara, 15 points and10 rebounds from Nathaniel Consejo, 14 points and eight assists from Joshua Fontanilla, and 10 points from Allan Liwag, but still fell to 1-4.
After dropping its first two games, Rizal found its form with homegrown John Winfred Gob II leading the attack. Gob shot 3 for 3 from rainbow territory en route to a game-high 18 points with five rebounds and two blocks in less than 18 minutes of play.
He was supported by Alvin John Capobres with 11 points.
Local finds Archie Concepcion and Jayson Castro Apolonio fired 17 points each while Warren Bonifacio added 10 for Pampanga, which slipped to 1-3.
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