Playing against a hostile crowd that was ready to celebrate inside the Filoil Flying V Centre, Billy Robles made sure to crash the party.
Down by 10, the 6-foot Ilonggo powered the Davao Occidental Tigers back to stun the San Juan-Go for Gold/Big J Knights, 77-66, to send the series to a deciding Game Five, Monday evening in San Juan.
“Billy played big. The key there is we executed on both ends of the floor,” said Davao Occidental coach Don Dulay.
Robles scored 12 of his MPBL career-high 22 points in the final frame. He also grabbed 18 big boards.
Davao Occidental was down by as much as 12 points in the game – 10 in the final frame. Leo Najorda sparked a 12-2 run capped by huge baskets from Robles, to give the Tigers the lead for good.
Orlan Wamar and John Wilson could not get their shots to go down to stop the bleeding as Robles, Mark Yee, and Joseph Terso continued to pound San Juan.
Mark Yee – who was named in the All-MPBL Team – finished with 14 points and nine boards. Meanwhile, Terso and Emman Calo combined for 22 points in off-the-bench duties.
“You can see my guys fighting the whole game,” added Dulay. “We had some lapses and kept on telling those guys to fix those and we’ll be okay. We tightened up on defense.”
Wamar paced San Juan with 19 points spiked by five triples. Wilson added 17 points, but was limited to just two points in the last 10 minutes of the contest.
This is just second loss of the Knights on their home court.
San Juan, the Northern Champs, took Game One in Davao, 84-74, before the Tigers bounced back in Game Two, 67-62. The Knights won Game Three, 67-60.
Game Five of the MPBL National Championship takes place on Thursday, April 25 at the Almendras Gym in Davao.
The Scores:
Davao Occidental 77 — Robles 22, Yee 14, Terso 11, Calo 10, Najorda 8, Custodio 7, Raymundo 3, Lamocha 2, Regalado 0, Medalla 0, Gonzales 0.
San Juan 66 — Wamar 19, Wilson 17, Cardona 9, Rodriguez 6, Ayonayon 4, Clarito 4, Jeruta 3, Reyes 2, Muyang 2, Aquino 0, Marquez 0.
Quarterscores: 12-17, 29-34, 45-53, 77-66.
