Manila swamped Bicolandia, 128-86, while Rizal edged Iloilo, 70-68, on Thursday, Aug. 22, in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Orion Sports Center in Bataan.
The Manila SV Batang Sampaloc Stars led throughout and by as far as 108-61 in chalking their 17th win against 7 losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 29-team tournament.
The Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers, on the other hand, rode on Jerie Pingoy and Jeric Serrano endgame heroics to raise their record to 13-11
Pingoy drilled in two charities with 48.9 seconds to go, while Serrano scored four in a 10-point homestretch run by Rizal then split his two free throws in the last 12.7 seconds for the final count.
Serrano posted 10 points and 8 rebounds to clinch the Daily Fantasy best player honors over Rocky Acidre, who tallied 12 points and 4 rebounds, and Kraniel Viloria with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Though the Golden Coolers made only 23 of 80 field goal attempts, they compensated with more points from turnovers (20-6) and second-chance points (28-11) to pull the United Royals down to 8-15 and virtually out of contention for the top 8 playoff slots in the South Division.
Manila, assured of a playoff spot in the North Division, drew 29 points from Rabeh Al-Hussaini, 26 from Tonino Gonzaga, 12 from Carl Bryan Cruz, 11 from 7-footer Greg Slaughter and 10 from Joshua Torralba.
Also-ran Bicolandia (3-20) got 22 points from Shaquille Alanes and 20 from Lord Hower Casajeros.
Bataan trounced Pangasinan, 102-88, in the nightcap to make it back-to-back and rise to 7-16.
The Bataan Risers, powered by Robbi Darang and Yves Santos with 23 points each, pulled away at 82-62 and never looked back to pull the Pangasinan Heatwaves down to 9-15.
Darang, who pumped in 19 points in the second half, added 6 assists and 3 steals, while Sazon added 6 rebounds.
Other Risers who delivered were Jeff Santos with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and James Castro with 11 points and 3 assists.
Pangasinan got 19 points and 11 rebounds from Nathaniel Cosejo, 18 points from Michael Juico, and 10 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds from Joshua Fontanilla.
The MPBL goes to the University of Bangued Gymnasium on Saturday with a triple bill pitting Imus against Pasay at 4 p.m., Binan against Sarangani at 6 p.m., and Valenzuela against host Abra at 8 p.m.
Caption: Jeric Serrano delivers for Rizal Xentromall.
