MANILA showed it wasn't just all height on Wednesday at the Villar Coliseum in Las Pinas, banking on point guard Renzo Navarro to trounce Iloilo, 98-74, and sustain its hot streak in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season.
The 5-foot-8 Navarro wound up with 22 points, spiked by seven triples on 10 tries, on top of nine assists, seven rebounds, and two steals to earn best player honors over 7-footer Greg Slaughter, 6-7 Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and 6-4 Carl Bryan Cruz and anchor the Stars to their fifth straight win.
Cruz posted 14 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while Slaughter finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists in Manila's rise to a 10-4 record in the round-robin eliminations of the 29-team tournament. Al-Hussaini also contributed 14 points and eight rebounds, as they ruled the boards, 58-42, and led by as far as 89-61.
The Royals saw their three-win run broken and tumbled to 5-8 even after getting 18 points and four rebounds from Gwyne Capacio, 14 points plus five rebounds from Shaquille Imperial, and 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists from Clint Doliguez.
READ: Caloocan climbs MPBL standings after topping Batangas
In earlier games, Caloocan leaned on Joel Lee Yu's back-to-back layups to stun Batangas, 73-72, while South Cotabato subdued Mindoro, 107-91.
The MPBL goes to the Paco Arena on Thursday with a triple-bill pitting Quezon against Sarangani at 4 p.m., Imus against Bicolandia at 6 p.m., and Zamboanga against Rizal at 8 p.m.
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