Pasig-Sta. Lucia pulled away in the fourth quarter to fend off Bacoor, 76-67 for its second consecutive win in the Chooks-to-Go Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Wednesday night.
The Letran brigade of King Caralipio, Allen Mina, and Fran Yu conspired in an 8-0 surge to put the Realtors ahead by nine points, 72-63, with 2:32 left in the match.
From there, the Strikers never recovered as Sta. Lucia ran away with the victory.
“Yung first half namin sobrang hindi maganda yung execution namin, outrebounded kami,” said Sta. Lucia coach Bong Dela Cruz. “Good thing na ‘pag dating ng second half nakarecover kami sa rebounds and gumanda yung offense and defense namin.”
With the victory, Pasig remained as the last undefeated squad in Pool A with a 2-0 standing.
Cedric Ablaza finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three assists in 26 minutes and 38 seconds of action.
Yu scored six of his 14 points in the final frame while also tallying four assists and four rebounds. Ryan Costelo chipped in 11 points.
Bacoor fell at 1-2 in Pool A. Bacolod (2-1) and Iloilo (2-1) are still tied while Caloocan (1-1) and Negros (0-3) complete the bottom half of the standings.
Mark Doligon took charge for the Strikers with 15 points — on 5-of-16 shooting — laced with four rebounds and four assists in the match.
Jacob Galicia had 11 points while Rocky Acidre chipped in 10 points and four assists. Richard Albo was held to just seven points but grabbed 11 rebounds in the contest.
Pasig looks to make it three in a row against Caloocan on Friday at 12:00 PM while Bacoor will face Iloilo later that day at 5:00 PM.
The Scores:
Pasig (76) – Ablaza 18, Yu 14, Costelo 11, Teng 9, Caralipio 8, Mina 7, Apinan 3, Lingganay 2, Arana 2, Bautista 2
Bacoor (67) – Doligon 15, Galicia 11, Acidre 10, Garcia 7, Albo 7, Canon 4, Castro 4, Galit 3, Raymundo 3, Quilatan 2, Acuña 2
Quarterscores: 18-20, 37-37, 59-56, 76-67
