Manila weathered Pasig’s final assault while Makati came from behind to subdue Bulacan in the Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Season quarterfinal round at San Andres Sports Complex on Tuesday.
With their 12-point spread cut to just four with 35 seconds left, the Manila Stars’ Gabby Espinas and Gian Abricos canned two charities each to preserve the 91-88 victory, in the best-of-three series.
Trailing by six points in the final quarter, the Makati Super Crunch bunched 14 points, seven by Juneric Baloria, to surge ahead and prevail, 94-88.
The Stars and the Super Crunch hope to advance to the North division semifinals outright when they seek repeat wins on Saturday at Makati Coliseum.
Carlo Lastimosa wound up with 23 points on 71.4 percent clip from the field for the Stars, ranked second after the round-robin eliminations and are favored over the No. 7 Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors.
Espinas contributed 11 points and four rebounds, and while Abrigo and Jollo Go posted nine points each for Manila.
Jeric Teng tallied a game-high 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Josan Nimes added 19 points, and Leo Najorda 18 for the Realtors.
Makati, the No.3 seed, now holds the momentum over No. 7 Bulacan.
After Baloria’s explosion, Joseph Sedurifa and Joshua Torralba took over the offensive chores from Baloria, pouring 11 straight points that sealed the outcome, 94-81, with 32 seconds left.
Bulacan’s Rev Diputado then scored the game’s last seven points for the final count.
According to Makati coach Beaujing Acot, his wards were patient in defense, until they found their mark and their energy went up.
Baloria led Makati’s offense with 20 points, followed by Sedurifa and Cedric Ablaza with 17 each, and Joshua Torralba with 15.
Bulacan got 17 points each from Jovit Dela Cruz and Diputado.
