Quezon Province extended its perfect run with a 90-85 wire-to-wire victory over Abra on Saturday, July 13, in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Filoil Ecooil Centre in San Juan.
The Quezon Huskers pulled away by 28 points, 57-29, and used it as buffer to post win No. 16 in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
San Juan also continued its climb with an 82-75 thumping of Quezon City TODA Aksyon in the nightcap while Nueva Ecija regained its foothold with a 96-86 beating of Negros in the opener.
The San Juan Knights bunched 16 points to pull away in the fourth quarter, 75-56, and rise to 14-1, right behind the Huskers and the Pampanga Giant Lanterns (16-1).
Comfortably ahead, 87-69, the Huskers went into cruise mode in the last four minutes, allowing the Weavers to trim the gap before dropping to 10-7.
Jason Opiso led a balanced Huskers offense with 13 points, followed by Gab Banal and Ximone Sandagon with 11 points each and RJ Minerva and Mon Abundo with 10 each.
With Banal, who also grabbed 8 rebounds, hitting 3 of 5 long-range attempts, the Huskers pooled 12 triples out of 29 tries that proved to be the big difference as the Weavers could only convert 6 of 28 shots.
Abra got 18 points and 8 rebounds from Michael Canete, 15 points and 7 assists from Roi Sumang, 15 points from Andres Desiderio and 9 points plus 10 rebounds from Mark Yee.
Barely ahead, 59-56, San Juan finally shook off Quezon City as Orlan Wamar poured 9 points in that 16-point avalanche that buried Quezon City to an 8-10 record.
Wamar wound up with 19 points and 7 assists while Michael Calisaan and Nikko Panganiban provided support with 10 points each.
Quezon City drew 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assist Hubert Cani, 22 points from Jonathan Ralf Gesalem and 10 points plus 8 rebounds from Abdul Sawat.
Hurting from back-to-back losses, the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards led throughout and by as far as 43-28 in improving to 13-2.
Will McAloney led the Rice Vanguards with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, followed by John Wilson and Ed Daquiaog with 15 points each, and Robby Celiz with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
Negros dropped to 7-11 despite five Muscovados notching twin digits. Renz Palma and Jeremy Cruz have 15 points each, Felipe Chavez 12, and John Formento and Ryan Reyes 10 each.
The MPBL goes to the San Andres Sports Complex on Monday, July 15, with games pitting Sarangani against Pasay at 4 p.m., Mindoro against Paranaque at 6 p.m., and Davao against Manila at 8
p.m.
