CALOOCAN vented its ireo n Bacolod, pulling off a wire-to-wire 80-73 victory in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Season 6 at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila.

Still smarting from a sorry 66-69 setback to Manila in their debut last April 23, the Batang Kankaloo of coach Alex Angeles went to veterans Reil Cervantes and Gabby Espinas and homegrown Alejandro Inigo to roll back Bacolod City of Smiles.

Cervantes scattered 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and grabbed five rebounds in only 16 minutes of play.

Espinas contributed 10 points.

Joco Tayongtong added nine points, with Inigo and Irven Palencia chipped in seven points each. Joel Yu, Paul Sanga, and Ronnie Matias each contributed six points to the victory.

Danny Marilao finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes of action for the City of Smiles of coach Alex Cabagnot,

LA Casinilio added 12 points and four assists, while JJ Española and Tricky Dyn Peromingan contributed 11 points each.

The Batang Kankaloo took control in the early minutes and built their largest lead of 23 points at 64-41 in the third quarter.

Bacolod, however, mounted a rally behind a 31-point fourth-quarter explosion.

Led by Espanola, the City of Smiles managed to cut the deficit to only nine points,62-71, with still 2:56 left in the fourth quarter.

After Española narrowed the gap to seven points, Tayongtong responded with a ccrucial three-pointer to extend the lead to 10 points with 2:03 remaining.

Tayongtong then sank another basket, pushing the lead tback o 12 points at 76-64 with 1:26 left.

Following a free throw by Casinilio and a layup by Cervantes, which gave the Batang Kankaloo an 11-point lead at 78-67 with 43 seconds remaining Marilao completed a three-point play to cut the deficit to what it was in the end.

Bacolod skidded to 1-4 in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.

The MPBL returns to the Olivarez College Gym in Parañaque with Bulacan taking on Bataan at 4 p.m., Sarangani battling San Juan at 6 p.m. and Valenzuela meeting Paranaque at 8 p.m.

PBA legend Kenneth Duremdes is the commissioner

The scores:

Caloocan (80) — Cervantes 14, Espinas 10, Tayongtong 9, Inigo 7, Palencia 7, Matias 6, Sanga 6, Lee Yu 6, Lasco 4, Casin 4, Calahat 3, Manalang 2, Sumoda 2, Bonsubre 0, Valin 0.
Bacolod (73) — Marilao 13, Casinillio 12, Espanola 11, Peromingan 11, Calicia 8, Galit 6, Pastias 5, Ramos 4, Sabellina 3, Solomon 0, Salcedo 0, Sedillo 0, Canal 0, Manalang 0, Partosa 0.
Quarterscores: 26-14, 44-28, 64-42, 80-73.