Manila scored a huge bounce-back win, venting its ire on EMKAI-Rizal Xentro Mall, taking an 89-59 wire-to-wire win in the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Maharika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational, Monday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Coming off a stinging 80-77 loss to Mindoro yesterday, Stars head coach Cholo Villanueva made sure to tell his team to stick to the silver linings of it.
“It’s a relatively young team and siguro everybody was excited yesterday,” said Villanueva. “We had a chance to win yesterday but we were able to build momentum from yesterday.”
Dan Sara and special guest player Brent Paraiso came off firing in the opening frame. They scored eight points each in the opening frame to give Manila a 24-11 lead.
Sara continued his scoring spree in the second frame as Manila ended the half with an imposing 47-24 lead.
“We just set our composure. With Carlo Lastimosa out, we need to have the next man up para makuha namin ‘yung goal namin today,” said Sara, who had 16 points built on two triples, as Lastimosa is nursing a knee strain and is day-to-day. “We also had to make a statement.”
The lead of Manila grew to as high as 34 points, 88-54, late in the game.
With the win, Manila went up to 1-1 in Pool D – same with the Golden Coolers. Imus and Mindoro are 1-0 while Gen San and Bulacan are 0-1.
“It’s a short tournament so we need to look at the film and see the mistakes that we are making,” said Villanueva. “It’s a different animal each game, so we have to study them and be ready to compete.”
John Rey Villanueva tallied 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals for the Stars. Paraiso got 13 points, going 5-of-5 from the stripe.
Mark Neil Cruz also tallied a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Laurenz Victoria got 13 points to lead the Golden Coolers. On the other hand, Andrian Celada was limited to just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Manila will next face GenSan on Wednesday at 5:00 PM. Meanwhile, Caloocan takes on Negros tomorrow at 12:00 NN.
The Scores:
Manila 89 – Sara 16, Villanueva 14, Paraiso 13, Cruz 12, Mangahas 11, Dyke 8, Ambulodto 6, Battaller 5, Asuncion 2, Importante 2, Baltazar 0, Lopez 0.
Rizal 59 – Victoria 13, Celada 10, Serrano 8, Benitez 6, Sunga 5, Acibar 5, Rios 4, Pretta 3, Dela Cruz 3, Melegrito 1, Vasallo 1, Saret 0.
Quarterscores: 24-11, 47-24, 58-50, 89-59.
