PAMPANGA weathered Zamboanga’s late assault to escape with an 82-79 and extend its hot streak in Season 6 of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan.
The Giant Lanterns averted a late meltdown and stretched their winning streak to 19 after dropping their opening game in the tournament.
Top PBA draft pick Justine Baltazar was dominant anew with 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists but he had to rely on Jhaymo Eguilos' late game heroics to turn those numbers into a win.
Eguilos scored the last five points for the league’s pacesetters as the Giant Lanterns thwarted the Master Sardines’ last-ditch attempt at an upset as they took a 79–77 behind Jaycee Marcelino.
Jul-Ashri Ignacio missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would’ve sent the game to overtime.
Baltazar's presence in the paint was evident as they ruled the boards (46-33), and points in the paint (46-22).
Archie Concepcion added 15 points and three assists while another PBA-bound Giant Lantern in Kurt Reyson chipped in 10 points and four boards.
Marcelino, who scored seven in Zamboanga’s late 9-2 push, finished with 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in a losing effort as they dropped to 15-4 in the tournament.
Adrian Santos was the only other Zamboangueno in twin digits with 11 points
Alday lifts Rizal past Sarangani
Earlier, Rizal XentroMall leaned on the steady hands of Alwyn Alday in whipping Sarangani, 80-69, to improve to 11-9.
Alday led the Golden Coolers with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists while John Apacible was a monster on the glass as he corralled 16 boards to go along 12 points.
Kraniel Villoria also added 12 points, while Marco Balagtas and Bam Gamalinda rounded up the double-digit scorers for the Golden Coolers with 11 and 10 apiece.
Lars Sunga paced the 4-15 Sangani with 14 points and five boards.
The MPBL visits the Amoranto Gym in Quezon City for the first time on Tuesday with games pitting Muntinlupa against Imus at 4 p.m., Iloilo against Caloocan at 6 p.m., and Bulacan against Quezon City at 8 p.m.
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