Manila brought down erstwhile unbeaten Quezon City, 81-78, to grab a piece of the North Division lead in the Metro League basketball tournament last Tuesday at the Hagonoy Sports Complex in Taguig.
Former PBA star Joseph Yeo canned two pressure-packed free throws to give Manila an 80-76 lead with 1:20 left and the All Stars held on to complete the upset win that put them in a two-way tie for the North’s top spot with their victims at 4-1.
A jump shot by Cyrus Tabi of Quezon City and a split from the free throw line by Ken Acibar of Manila finalized the score in the tournament organized by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and supported by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Jayford Rodriguez finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and two assists to win World Balance Player of the Game honors, while Paolo Quiminales added 13 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.
In other results, Caloocan recorded the highest output in a game and the biggest winning margin thus far in a 128-58 massacre of Las Piñas while Taguig finally recorded its first back-to-back wins with an 84-73 decision over Marikina which lost its sixth in as many games.
John Carl Melegrito had 21 points, including five quick unanswered points that put Quezon City to within 76-78 with two minutes left.
Backing the event are Synergy 88, San Miguel Corp., World Balance, Frabelle Foods, Summit Mineral Water, Alco Plus, Gerry’s Grill, Excellent Noodles, glitter.ph, SM Supermalls and Nature’s Spring.
