The Davao Occidental Tigers pounced on the absence of Greg Slaughter to subdue the Manila SV Batang Sampaloc Stars, 92-82, on Monday, July 15, in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila.
Arth Dela Cruz barely missed a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists to lead the Tigers, the 2021 MPBL champion, to their 12th win against 5 losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
Manila, which went unbeaten in 8 games with Slaughter around, fell to 13-5 as the Stars solely missed the 7-footer’s intimidating presence and averages of 17.1 points and 10.8 rebounds.
The versatile Dela Cruz, who poured in 13 points in the first quarter, got ample support from Mark Tallo and Bonbon Custodio with 15 points each and Chris Lalata and Kenneth Ighalo with 11 points each.
Sans the ailing Slaughter, Rabeh Al-Hussaini manned the middle for the Stars and wound up with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Manila also got 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists from John Cantimbuhan and 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists from Carl Bryan Cruz.
With Custodio and Tallo finding their mark, the Tigers erected a 72-58 spread late in the third quarter that they protected till the end.
Other games saw Paranaque nip Mindoro, 97-94, and Pasay trip Sarangani, 65-60.
Led by Warren Bonifacio with 20 points and 7 rebounds, Pasay posted its fourth straight win and climbed to 11-7.
Other Voyagers who delivered were Axel Inigo with 10 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds, and Laurenz Victoria with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Sarangani suffered its third straight defeat and tumbled to 4-14 despite the 15-point, 5-rebound, 2-assist, 2-steal effort of Jaymark Mallari and the 10-point outputs of Benjie Jimenez and Larce Christian Sunga.
Paranaque banked on the 34-point explosion of Jielo Razon to rise to 11-7 and pull down Mindoro to 5-13.
Razon, who added 5 assists and 5 rebounds, was backed by homegrown JR Olegario with 20 points and Reneford Ruaya with 12 points plus 5 rebounds.
The 10-man Tamaraws drew 18 points each from Karl Bono and Jhon Jerrick Caspe, 16 from Kint Ariar and 11 from Tey Teodoro.
The MPBL goes to the Alonte Sports Arena on Tuesday, July 16, with games pitting Rizal against Bulacan at 4 p.m., Muntinlupa against Zamboanga at 6 p.m., and Pampanga against Binan at 8 p.m.
