Manila and Taguig grabbed the lead in their respective divisions by beating separate opponents in the Metro League basketball tournament at the Dapitan Sports Complex last Thursday.
The All-Stars notched their third straight win in a thriller of a game against San Juan, 88-86, to zoom to the top of the North Division with its 5-1 win-loss slate while Taguig also made it three in a row in an 85-67 rout of erstwhile South Division leader Pateros to improve to 4-2, just half a game ahead of their victim’s 3-2.
In the game of the event organized by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and supported by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA),Valenzuela stayed within striking distance of Manila by clobbering winless Las Piñas 111-76 to hike its record to 4-1 and a share of second place in the North Division with Quezon City which is also at 4-1.
Manila went to Mark Christian Yu, who finished with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists and Jay Mark Mallari, who was named World Balance Player of the Game after tallying 18 points, including 12 in fourth quarter, to go along with eight steals, seven assists and four rebounds.
Jayford Rodriguez had 16 points and four rebounds for the All Stars of head coach Adoe Salazar, who overcame a six-point deficit with four minutes left in the game.
