The Bataan Risers dropped a closing 7-point salvo, the last four by James Castro, and bested the Quezon Huskers, 64-61, on Saturday in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Bataan People’s Center in the City of Balanga.
With Quezon ahead, 61-57, following a two-handed slam by Ximone Sandagon, Bataan countered with a 3-point play by Jamil Gabawan, followed by a fastbreak drive by Castro, who sealed the count with two free throws, only 7.2 seconds to go.
Bataan leveled its record to 5-5 in the elimination round of the 29-team tournament while handing Quezon its third straight defeat after opening its campaign with seven straight wins.
Earlier games saw the San Juan Knights trounce the Negros Muscovados, 73-66, and the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo subdue the Makati OKBet-Kings, 76-72.
San Juan climbed to 7-2 as it led wire-to-wire and as far as 70-5 behind the 18 points of AC Soberano and 10 each from Orlan Wamar, Marwin Taywan and Michael Calisaan, who also snagged 13 rebounds.
Castro wound up with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists for Bataan, which drew 10 points from Kris Torrado, who went scoreless and committed a bad pass in the fourth quarter, and 9 points plus 9 rebounds from Gabawan.
Quezon had one final chance to force overtime, but Mon Abundo missed a triple try with 4 seconds to go and Castro collared the defensive rebound to snap Bataan’s two-game slide.
