Batangas City Embassy Chill showed part of its strength with a 76-56 rout of Imus Bandera late Monday in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Mumbaki Cup inaugurals, Monday evening at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Levi Hernandez and Juneric Baloria provided a 1-2 punch for Batangas which hardly missed the services of three key players in sharing the early lead with first game-winner Sarangani.
Hernandez and Baloria scored 15 points each to lead 10 0ther players who scored for Coach Cholo Villanueva and pushed Batangas ahead by as far as 65-43,
It was Hernandez who earned best player honors, however, as he also posted five rebounds and an assist in just 16 minutes and 14 seconds on the floor.
MJ Dela Virgen added 10 points and seven rebounds for Batangas, which played without veterans Jheckster Apinan, Cedrick Ablaza, and Rudy Lingganay.
Hernandez and the rest of Batangas had earlier played in the 2022 Filbasket Summer Championships with Embassy Chill’s sister company Tanduay.
The game that saw Tanduay win 89-74 to punch their ticket to the next round was held at the San Jose Del Monte Sports Complex in Bulacan.
Hernandez got 12 points in the game while Baloria added eight.
Imus got 14 points each from homegrown Ian Melencio and Jacob Galicia.
