Cedric Ablaza is one of Batangas City Embassy Chill’s sources of strength.
Batangas resumes winning ways
BATANGAS rebounded with a 67-61 victory over Manila 1 in the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season presented by Xtreme at the Strike Gym in Bacoor City.
Quezon City and Bacoor, on the other hand, injected fuel into their sputtering drives with contrasting victories over Pasig, 76-73, and Laguna, 69-57, respectively.
Handed its first loss by Pampanga on August 6, the Batangas City Embassy Chill surged ahead, 55-42, after three quarters before cruising to its 11th win in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 22-team tournamentt.
Jeckster Apinan led Batangas with 13 points and 9 rebounds, followed by Levi Hernandez with 12 points and 5 rebounds and Rudy Lingganay with 10 points and 5 assists.
Held to just seven points, Cedric Ablaza compensated by grabbing 12 rebounds for Batangas, the South division pacesetter.
Manila, which tumbled to 6-7, got 13 points from Dan Sara and Jed Mendoza 11.
Quezon City MG Cars drew 15 points from Kent Lao, 12 each from Levi Dela Cruz and Kentoy Segura and 11 from Jerick Nacpil in posting its fifth win against six losses.
Pasig fell to 6-5 despite the 21-point effort of Robbie Manalang and the 20-point output of Jason Melano.
Powered by Edzel Mag-isa, Mark Montuano and Mark Pangilinan, Bacoor controlled the tempo for the most part and posted its fourth win against six losses.
Mag-isa and Montuano tallied 14 points each, while Pangilinan added 11 as Bacoor handed Laguna Krah Asia its 10th straight defeat for a 1-11 slate.
The MPBL returns to the Bren Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga on Monday with another triple-bill.
Unbeaten Nueva Ecija guns for win No. 14 against Marikina (3-8) at 5 p.m., followed by the encounter between Imus (3-7) and General Santos (6-5) at 7 p.m. Bacolod (7-4) and Pampanga (7-4) clash at 9 p.m.
