DAVAO CITY – Davao Occidental and Zamboanga endured bumpy rides toward victories in the Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Season South division playoffs on Monday at the Rizal Memorial Colleges Gym here.
Trailing by 11 points in the third quarter, the Davao Occidental Tigers needed two scoring spurts to repel the Bicol Volcanoes,77-71, while Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines quashed Batangas City Athletics’ final rally to prevail, 78-74.
The favored Tigers and the lower-rated Zamboanguenos thus moved a win away from advancing to the semifinals.
Ranked No. 5 after the round-robin elimination round, Zamboanga upstaged No. 4 Batangas, for the first reversal of the inter-division quarterfinals.
Opening games of the North division quarterfinals on Feb. 15 saw No. 1 San Juan Knights nip the No. 8 Pasay Voyagers, 75-74, and No. 4 Pampanga Giant Lanterns batter the No. 5 Bataan Risers, 71-64.
Groping for form in the first half, the Tigers trailed by 13 points (34-21) in the second quarter and were still far behind at 33-44 with 6:44 left in the third quarter, posing concern to their hometown fans.
The Cocolife-back Tigers, through the combined efforts of Emman Calo, Mark Yee, Yvan Ludovice, Jayvee Mocon and Billy Robles, finally found their bearing, however, dropping a 15-2 salvo that pushed them on top, 48-46.
The LCC Malls-supported Volcanoes, seeded eighth, refused to go quietly and regained the lead through Chris Lalata, 58-57.
Davao, through Yee, Robles, Ludovice and Calo, countered with a 14-5 tear to move ahead, 71-63, with 2:48 left.
Yee got his usual double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Calo with 18 points, Robles 11 points plus nine rebounds, and Ludovice with 10 points.
Alvin Pasaol powered Zamboanga with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. He got help from Robin Rono with 13 points plus 8 rebounds, Aaron Black with 11 points plus 4 rebounds, and Harold Arboleda with 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Batangas got 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists from MPBL All-Stars MVP Jeff Viernes, 16 points and 9 rebounds from Jhyamo Eguilos, 11 points plus 5 boards from Adrian Santos and 10 plus 6 boards from Jason Melano.
