Top seed Max Ballers-Davao drew first blood in the best-of-three finals of the Manila Bankers Life-Pilipinas Super League 18-Under Mindanao South Leg, taking an 85-79 win over ISD Pacman on Friday at Davnor Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum, Davao Del Norte.
Max Ballers swept the four-game elimination round before beating Cantilan RP Gugmart in the Final Four (98-68). They leaned on young big man Wilhalm Cabonillas, who tallied 30 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four steals, and three blocks in the victory.
The Davao-based squad is now just one win away from advancing to the Mindanao leg finals where they will face the champions of the region’s north team for the right to advance to the national finals next month in this tournament co-presented by SCD and Dumper party-list, and supported by J Project Clothings, MDC, Bluesky Advertising, NET 25, Wcube Solutions Inc., Hotel SOGO, and Converge.
Daryl Acero supplied 15 points, five rebounds, four steals, four assists, and three blocks for Max Ballers. Meanwhile, Yee Ping Xian added 13 markers.
Ian Jay Pineda paced Pacman with 24 points and eight rebounds.
In Luzon Leg games last Thursday at System Plus Computer College Gymnasium in Caloocan, Quezon took a share of second after escaping LDG San Pedro, 104-96, while Bulacan climbed to fourth after a 117-80 rout of Cabuyao.
College of Saint Benilde’s Mowell Morales was a man amongst boys in the contest, tallying 23 points and 19 rebounds to power Quezon to a 4-1 record and tying Datzluv Sta. Cruz in the standings.
Mj Rodel and Renz Apor chipped in 20 and 15 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, five Batang Lakan players scored in double-figures, with Khio Barogga leading the way with 23 points and seven rebounds.
Jacob Malangen fired 18 points, while Andrei Delos Reyes notched 17 points and eight rebounds. Ruzzel Del Poso got 16 points.
Meanwhile, Adrian Turingan tallied 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds to gain the winner-over-the-other advantage over Cabuyao.
LDG fell to 2-4 and is at the brink of elimination.
