QUEZON Province caught fire in the fourth quarter and battled back to beat Rizal Xentromall, 83-78, on Wednesday and regain traction in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
Trailing, 56-69, the Huskers clustered 20 points, highlighted by Judel Fuentes' 13 straight, in just over five minutes to seize control at 76-69, ultimately snapping their two-game slide and climbing to 17-2 in the round-robin eliminations of the 29-team tournament.
Fuentes finished with 33 points, three rebounds, and two assists, as Jason Opiso provided support with 10 points and so did L-Jay Gonzales with eight, all in the final frame where he and Fuentes outscored all of the Golden Coolers, 21-14.
Quezon also counted on Ximone Sandagon with seven points and four rebounds and Gab Banal with six points plus six rebounds.
Rizal, behind Alwyn Alday, Kraniel Villoria, and John Apacible, surged ahead 57-44, halfway through the fourth quarter, but couldn't sustain their fire and dropped to an 11-10 slate.
Alday wound up with 29 points, three rebounds, and four assists; Villoria tallied 11 points, 11 rebounds, plus six assists; and Apacible 14 points plus five rebounds.
Paranaque, Bicolandia triumph
In other games, Paranaque subdued Quezon City, 74-62, and Bicolandia nipped Bulacan, 73-72.
The Patriots, drawing firepower from JR Olegario, John Uduba, and Paolo Castro, pulled away at 62-43 and never wavered en route to a 13-8 card.
Olegario notched 21 points and three steals, Castro 11 points and five rebounds, and Uduba 10 points and seven rebounds for Paranaque, which struck from long-range, sinking 9-of-19 triple tries for a high 47.4 conversion rate.
QC, which skidded to 9-12, got 13 points from Hubert Cani and 11 from Michael Are.
The Oragons, meantime, banked on John Edcel Rojas' jumper with 10 seconds left to edge the Kuyas to improve to 3-18.
Rojas finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Shaq Alanes had 20 points, six rebounds, and three assists and Chris Javier got 11 points plus 12 rebounds.
On the other hand, Bulacan fell to 2-20 despite Jason Celis' 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists, John Cayno Carandang's 14 points and 12 rebounds, Jan Baltazar's 11 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, and Eric Jabel's 10 points, five assists, and three rebounds.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena on Thursday with games pitting South Cotabato against Valenzuela at 4 p.m., San Juan against Pasay at 6 p.m., and Bacolod against host Binan at 8 p.m.
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