BATANGAS CITY – Bicol stunned Davao Occidental while Batangas City got back at Zamboanga on Friday to send their respective South division quarterfinal playoffs to a decider in the Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Season at Batangas State University Gymnasium.
Down by eight early in the fourth quarter, the Bicol Volcanoes seized control with a 16-point explosion and held on for an 84-81 victory while the Batangas City Athletics subdued Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines, 84-75.
Alywn Alday fired eight points in that explosion which shoved the Volcanoes on top, 77-69, with 4:28 to go.
Bonbon Custodio, Emman Calo, and Marco Balagtas countered with a 7-point cluster to push Davao Occidental to within 76-77.
But Alday, Jerome Garcia, and Hafer Mondragon raised it back to 83-78, that all but decided the game.
Alday and Garcia paced the LCC Malls-backed Bicol with 18 points each, followed by Ronjay Buenafe with 14 points plus eight assists and Mondragon with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Playing before a packed crowd of supporters, the Tanduay-backed Athletics led by as many as 21 (62-41) and entered the fourth quarter holding a 62-44 lead.
Adrian Santos contributed 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench as the Tanduay-backed Athletics bucked the absence of Gilas pool members Rey Suerte and Jaydee Tungcab.
Davao Occidental, which lost floor leader Mark Yee to a right foot injury early in the second quarter, drew 15 points plus 10 rebounds from Calo, 13 points from Billy Robles and 12 points from Chester Saldua.
Playing before a packed crowd of supporters, the Tanduay-backed Athletics led by as many as 21 (62-41) and entered the fourth quarter holding a 62-44 lead.
Zamboanga came to within 72-80 through Alvin Pasaol, Robin Roño, Santi Santillan and Raffy Reyes.
Batangas sparkplug Jeff Viernes, however, drilled in two free throws to seal the outcome with 40 seconds left.
Putting his 6-foot-6 frame to good use, Jhaymo Eguilos led Batangas with 17 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks, followed by Jason Melano with 14 points plus eight rebounds, and Moncrief Rogado with 12 points.
Zamboanga got 23 points and 11 rebounds from Santi Santillan, 20 points from Rono and 14 from Pasaol.
Eighth seed Bicol lost to top seed Davao Occidental (71-77) while fourth-ranked Batangas yielded to Zamboanga (78-74) in the openers.
The Game 3 winners on February 26 in Davao City will advance to the semifinals.
