The Bacoor Strikers zoomed ahead early and were never headed en route to a 71-64 victory over the Batangas City Embassy Chill Athletics on Saturday in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Bacoor Strike Gym in Cavite.
Egged on by the full-house crowd, the Strikers raced to a 28-6 spread and then foiled the Athletics’ final assault in the fourth quarter to notch their 19th win against four losses and tightened their grip of top spot in the South division of the 29-team tournament.
Negros led from the start and routed Bicol, 121-76, to stay in playoff contention with a 9-14 mark in the opener.
The Athletics tumbled to 17-5 in a tie with the GenSan Warriors going to the final stretch of the round-robin elimination phase.
With Bacoor way up, 62-42, Batangas bunched 12 points, 6 by Jneric Baloria to threaten at 58-62, with still 1 minute and 55 seconds left.
James Kwekuteye, however, drilled in a triple and team skipperK Mark Yee added two charities to put Bacoor on safe ground.
Kwekuteye wound up with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists to earn best player honors over teammates Michael Canete, who made 15 points, and Jhan McHale Nermal, who tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Batangas got 18 points and 8 rebounds from Rhaffy Octobre, 13 points from MJ Dela Virgen, 12 points plus 10 rebounds from Baloria, and 10 points plus 7 rebounds from Jeckster Apinan.
