Pasig stayed unscathed while Bicol stretched its winning run on Saturday as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitationals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors outscored the Bacolod All-Star Ballers in all quarters en route to an 86-61 victory that raised their record to 4-0 in the six-team Group A.
The Bicol-LCC Malls Volcanoes exploded in the fourth quarter and buried the Marikina Shoe Masters, 86-61, for their third win in a row after dropping their first game in the five-team Group B.
In handing Bacolod its second loss in five games, Pasig gave Iloilo United Royals (3-1) a free pass to the quarterfinals as the Ilonggos have beaten the Ballers, 85-62, on Wednesday.
Mindoro EOG Burlington pulled off an 86-83 squeaker over Rizal EMKAI Xentromall in the six-team Group D.
With a 3-1 slate, the Tamaraws of coach Britt Reroma caught up with the Manila Stars and the Imus Buracai de Laiya Bandera in the chase for the two quarterfinal berths.
Former Makati stars Rudy Lingganay, Jeckster Apinan and Cedrick Ablaza led the Realtors of coach Bong DelaCruz with 16, 14 and 13 points, respectively. Apinan added ten rebounds and five assists.
Getting familiar with Coach Aldin Ayo’s mayhem system, the Mac Tallo-powered Volcanoes led by as many as 25, 85-61. Tallo, showing his skills are not only suited to 3×3 basketball, wound up with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals to earn best player honors. He was supported by Ralph Tansingco with 14 points.
N0-bearing games saw the GenSan Warriors thwart the Bulacan Kuyas, 90-82, and Valenzuela City MJAS Zenith nip the Sarangani Marlins, 77-73.