UPSETS rocked the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Season 6 tournament with Rizal XentroMall pulling the rug from under defending national champion Pampanga, 78-71, and Parañaque Patriots holding off Manila SV Batang Sampaloc, 82-78, at the Villar Coliseum in Las Piñas.

Kraniel Victoria came through with an all-around performance of 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals for Rizal, which completely dominated Pampanga in the second half enroute to a morale-boosting victory in this two-division, 30-team tournament.

Keith Agovida added 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals and Alwyn Alday contributed a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds for Rizal, which rallied from an early 13-32 deficit to tie the game at 38-all at halftime.

Rizal pounced on the absence of reigning MPBL MVP Justine Baltazar of Pampanga.

Kurt Reyson topscored with 13 points, Brandon Ramirez had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Kyle Santos had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Pampanga, which also missed head coach Gov. Dennis Pineda who was abroad.

Baltazar, a vital cog in Pampanga’s successful title run, showed up in street clothes, Parañaque relied on the 1-2 punch of Jielo Razon and Mark Yee to roll back Manila in another highly-anticipated match.

Razon scattered 25 points, including five triples, and grabbed eight rebounds, while Yee, one of the more-experienced players in the team, added 18 points, including two triples, and a game-high 18 rebounds for the Michael Saguiguit-mentored Patriots.

Parañaque also got big games from John Rey Villanueva (15 points, six rebounds); Paul Sarao (eight points, four rebounds), John Uduba (seven points, eight rebounds) and Philip Manalang (11 assists, two points).

Carl Bryan Cruz, Fil-Am DJ Mitchell and Ahmad Didat Hanapi finished with 13 points each and Pao Javelona added 10 points for Manila, which rallied in the fourth quarter.

In the first game, Iloilo United Royals clobbered Bacolod City of Smiles, 85-67.

Chris Doliguez and Rey De La Rosa shared scoring honors for Iloilo with 15 points each for Iloilo, which led by five at halftime and pulled away in the third quarter.

Doliguez also grabbed five rebounds while De La Rosa had four rebounds and two assists for Iloilo coach Mac Abolucion.

Homegrown Mark Nonoy and Jason Credo added 10 and nine points, respectively.

Bacolod drew 15 points, six rebounds and four assists from Danny Marilao, 10 points and 14 rebounds from Nichole Ubalde and 10 points and rebounds from Salvador Galit.