MANILA swamped Bicolandia, 128-86, while Rizal edged Iloilo, 70-68, on Thursday in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Orion Sports Center in Bataan.
The SV Batang Sampaloc Stars led throughout and by as far as 108-61 in chalking their 17th win against seven losses in the round-robin eliminations of the two-division, 29-team tournament.
The Golden Coolers, on the other hand, rode Jerie Pingoy and Jeric Serrano's endgame heroics to raise their record to 13-11.
Pingoy converted two charities with 48.9 seconds to go, while Serrano scored four in a 10-point homestretch run by Rizal then split his two free throws in the last 12.7 seconds for the final count.
Serrano posted 10 points and eight rebounds, as Rocky Acidre tallied 12 points and four rebounds and Kraniel Viloria got 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Though Rizal Xentromall made only 23-of-80 field goals, they compensated with more points from turnovers (20-6) and second-chance points (28-11) to pull the Royals down to 8-15 and virtually out of contention for the top eight playoff slots in the South Division.
Manila, already assured of a playoff berth in the North Division, drew 29 points from Rabeh Al-Hussaini, 26 from Tonino Gonzaga, 12 from Carl Bryan Cruz, 11 from 7-footer Greg Slaughter, and 10 from Joshua Torralba.
The also-ran Oragons (3-20) got 22 points from Shaqu Alanes and 20 from Lord Casajeros.
Bataan takes advantage of homecourt
Bataan trounced Pangasinan, 102-88, in the nightcap to make it back-to-back and rise to 7-16.
The Risers, powered by Robbi Darang and Yves Santos with 23 points each, pulled away at 82-62 and never looked back to pull the Heatwaves down to 9-15.
Darang, who pumped in 19 points in the second half, added six assists and three steals, while Sazon also contributed six rebounds.
Other Risers who delivered were Jeff Santos with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals and James Castro with 11 points and three assists.
Pangasinan got 19 points and 11 rebounds from Nat Cosejo, 18 points from Michael Juico, and 10 points, eight assists, and five rebounds from Joshua Fontanilla.
The MPBL goes to the University of Bangued Gymnasium on Saturday with a triple-bill pitting Imus against Pasay at 4 p.m., Binan against Sarangani at 6 p.m., and Valenzuela against host Abra at 8 p.m.
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