San Juan continued to impress while Valenzuela pulled off a stunner on Wednesday, May 1, in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season elimination round at the Olivarez College Gym in Paranaque.
The San Juan Knights trounced the Sarangani Marlins, 80-65, for their third straight win in as many starts even as the Valenzuela Classics banked on Orin Catacutan to snap Paranaque’s four-win run, 70-68, in the nightcap of a triple bill.
In the opener, Bataan scored the game’s last six points to stun Bulacan, 92-90.
Catacutan canned a turn around jumper with 6.3 seconds left to push Valenzuela into the upper half of the standings with a 3-2 record.
Paranaque’s Jielo Razon then missed a probable game-winning triple at the buzzer to the disappointment of the overflow home crowd.
With Paranaque behind, 55-63, the Patriots dropped a 12-3 salvo behind Razon and Mark Yee to seize control at 67-66 with 1 minute and 7 seconds left.
Lanky Dennis Santos, however, scored on a lay-up to shove Valenzuela ahead, 68-67, before Keith Pido knotted the count at 68.
Valenzuela sued for time and devised plays designed for Catacutan, who delivered without fear. Catacutan wound up with 13 points, 7 rebound and 2 steals, while Fil-Am CJ Payawal came through with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Santos finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Paranaque drew 14 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists plus 4 steals from Razon, and 14 points plus 6 assists from Robbie Manalang. Yee finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds while JP Sarao chalked 13 points and 5 rebounds.
Unlike Valenzuela, San Juan was dominant throughout, leading by as far as 53-29 behind the guns of AC Soberano, Zach Huang, Michael Malonzo and John Galinato.
Soberano posted 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals plus 2 assists while Huang tallied 13 points plus 7 rebounds.
Malonzo and Galinato contributed 11 points each for the Knights being coach by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.
Sarangani, which slumped to 1-4, drew 13 points each from Coy Alves and Felix John Villarente and 10 points from Yukihiro Kawamura.
Trailing, 86-90, the Bataan Risers found saviors in Mitchelle Maynes, Yves Sazon and Jeff Santos to climb to 3-2.
Maaynes split his two charities, Sazon banged in a triple, while Santos stole off a bad pass to deliver the clincher for Bataan, which bucked the 29-point, 11-assist, 5-rebound, 2-steal effort of Bulacan’s Paolo Hubalde.
Maynes wound up with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals while Robbi Darang accounted for 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists for the Risers.
The MPBL goes to the Batangas City Coliseum on Wednesday, May 1, with games pitting Muntinlupa against Davao at 4 p.m., Binan against Imus at 6 p.m. and Rizal against Batangas at 8 p.m.
