Quezon Province squeaked past Imus, 77-75, while GenSan trounced Pasay, 89-55, on Saturday, July 8, in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.

Robin Rono hits target for Quezon Province. (MPBL Images)

Leaning on 3-point shooting, the Quezon Huskers climbed out of a 19-point hole and seized control, but needed to fend off the Imus SV Squad's final assault to notch their 12th win against 5 losses in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.

In contrast, the GenSan Warriors led from the start and pulled away at 52-13 en route to a 12-5 record.
It was the Huskers, however, who took the spotlight as they recovered from a 34-43 halftime deficit with a string of four triples, 46-43, and stayed ahead from there.

Robin Rono spearheaded Quezpn's guards who stepped up with 15 points, making 5 of 6 triple attempts, four rebounds, two assists and two steals to earn best player honors over fellow Husker Alvin Abundo.

Making 4 of 8 triple tries, a jumper and a free throw, Abundo also tallied 15 points to go with nine assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Other Huskers who delivered were Al Francis Tamsi with 14 points, spiked by 4 triples, and JK Casino with 13 points, including three triples, plus three assists.

They compensated for the absence of injured top gunner Raffy Verano and key players Jeric Teng, Mark Pangilinan, Prince Rivero and Will Gozum.

The Huskers built a 73-62 spread with 3 minutes and 21 seconds to go, but Jimboy Estrada poured 10 points and Jaymar Gimpayan added three against a triple by Rono to threaten at 75-76.

Abundo split his two charities to peg the final count as Gimpayan missed a potential game-extender just before the final buzzer.

Imus, which tumbled to 7-10, got 15 points from Hubert Cani, 14 from Estrada and 12 from Gimpayan, who snagged 11 rebounds.

GenSan, which drew 17 points from John Wilson and 11 from Nico Elorde, pounced on Pasay's listless start to zoom ahead, 31-6, in the first quarter.

The Voyagers couldn't recover and fell to 12-6.

As predicted, Caloocan dumped Bicol, 109-81, in the opener and rose to 13-5 behind the 23-point explosion of Jeramer Cabanag and the 19-point output of Paul Sanga.

Other major contributors for Batang Kankaloo, who pulled down the Volcanoes to 1-18, were Gabby Espinas with 14 points plus eight rebounds, Mac Baracael with 11 points and Axel Inigo with nine points plus 17 assists.

The MPBL goes to the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig with a triple bill pitting Marikina against Manila at 4 p.m., Laguna against San Juan at 6 p.m., and Muntinlupa against Pasig at 8 p.m.