JUSTINE Baltazar showed why he is one of the country’s prized big men, leading the Pampanga G Lanterns to a 78-70 victory over Sta. Rosa Laguna for their second straight win in the Manila Bankers Life-Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando.

In front of his home crowd, Baltazar, a Gilas Pilipinas national team training pool member who hails from Mabalacat City, scored 14 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the G Lanterns, while Archie Concepcion led the team with a game-high 20 and two boards.

King Caralipio and Kurt Reyson also had 12 and 10 points, respectively as the G Lanterns did an encore to a 129-93 drubbing of 1Munti last Saturday and hiked their record to 9-5 in a tie with Boracay for sixth.

The Lions, coming off a 133-74 thrashing of San Pedro Laguna-ARS last Wednesday, slipped to 10-4, still good for solo fourth in the cage wars presented by Dumper party-list, Winzir, and Skin Care Depot, co-presented by SCD Cosmetics, and supported by NET 25, Adcon, Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don Benitos, and Finn Cotton, with PBA and Gilas Pilipinas great Marc Pingris serving as Commissioner.

In other games, Boracay trounced Bagong Cabuyao-Homelab Nation 95-79, while Quezon City nipped Cagayan de Oro-PSP 97-96.

JBoy Solis paced Sta. Rosa with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Jeramer Cabanag and John Nermal got 11 and 10, respectively.

The scores

First game

Boracay (95) – Bragais 15, Estrada 14, Gimpayan 12, Helterbrand 9, Cardona 8, Mallari 8, Hayes 8, Peñarodondo 4, Faundo 3, Yanes 2, Estacio 2, Esguerra 1, Sablan 0, De Mesa 0.

Cabuyao (79) – Bitoy 19. Jolangcob 15, Barnedo 10, Alvarado 10, Villapando 9, Obuyes 7, Vitug 5, Ilad 2, Posada 2, Calang 0, Capara 0.

Quarterscores: 21-14, 58-29, 76-47, 95-79.

Second game

Quezon City (97) – Peromingan 19, Baracael 12, Jamon 12, Lee Yu 11, Casino 9, Lorenzana 8, Doromal 8, Jeruta 8, Arong 3, Reyes 2, Melegrito 2.

Cagayan de Oro-PSP (96).– Lucero 31, Yutuc 19, Dela Cruz 11, Bayla 10, Mohammad 7, Comia 7, Velchez 6, Soriano 3, Castillo 2, Rojo 0, Quinga 0.

Quarterscores: 31-21, 52-49, 78-61, 97-96.

Third game

Pampanga (78) – Concepcion 20, Baltazar 14, Caralipio 12, Reyson 10, Sangalang 8, Pambid 7, Jamito 2, Santos 2, Bulawan 2, De Leon 1, Garcia 0, Bautista 0, Binuya 0.

Sta. Rosa (70)– Solis 12, Cabanag 11, Nermal 10, Sara 9, Cosejo 8, Lingganay 6, Joson 6, Sumoda 4, Bonsubre 2, Reverente 0, Koga 0, Acuna 0, Catacutan 0.

Quarterscores: 10-17, 34-27, 59-45, 78-70.