The Bacoor Strikers zoomed ahead early and were never headed en route to a 71-64 victory over the Batangas City Embassy Chill Athletics on Saturday, Aug. 12, in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Bacoor Strike Gym in Cavite.

Egged on by the full-house crowd, the Strikers raced to a 28-6 spread and then foiled the Athletics' final assault in the fourth quarter to notch their 19th win against four losses and tightened their grip of top spot in the South division of the 29-team tournament.

The Athletics tumbled to 17-5 in a tie with the GenSan Warriors going to the final stretch of the round-robin elimination phase.

With Bacoor way up, 62-42, Batangas bunched 12 points, six by Jeric Baloria to threaten at 58-62, with still 1 minute and 55 seconds left.

James Kwekuteye, however, drilled in a triple and team skipper Mark Yee added two charities to put Bacoor on safe ground.

Kwekuteye wound up with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists to earn best player honors over teammates Michael Canete, who made 15 points, and Jhan McHale Nermal, who tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Batangas got 18 points and eight rebounds from Rhaffy Octobre, 13 points from MJ Dela Virgen, 12 points plus 10 rebounds from Baloria, and 10 points plus seven rebounds from Jeckster Apinan.

Earlier, AJ Coronel scored on a follow-up buzzer-beater to push Pasay past San Juan.
That shot, which came after Laurenz Victoria's jumper went airball, was a heartbreaker for San Juan, which blew a 70-70 lead early in the fourth quarter but was still ahead and had ball possession with only 13 seconds left.

An errant inbound pass by Adrian Nocum to Orlan Wamar, however, paved the way for Pasay's final play that turned the game around and handed the Voyagers their 14th win against nine losses.

Dhon Reverente was instrumental in Pasay's comeback as he poured 10 of his team-high 18 points in a 13-point salvo that put the Voyagers back in control, 73-70, heading to the last two minutes. Brandrey Bienes was the other Voyager in twin digits with 11.

The Voyagers started strong, 25-12, only for the Knights to overtake them at 65-49.
The Knights dropped to 18-5 despite Zach Huang's 18-point, 13-rebound effort and Wamar's 14-point, 11-assist output.

Negros led from the start and routed Bicol, 121-76, to stay in playoff contention with a 9-14 mark in the opener.

Leo James Ingles posted 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Muscovados, who also drew 21 points from Jonathan Gantalao, 15 from Jose Piero Longa, 13 from Jason Melano and 11 from Ichie Altamirano.

Bicol, which got 19 points from Denzel Wong, fell to 1-23.

The MPBL visits the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City on Monday with games pitting Bacolod against Laguna at 4 p.m., Pasig against Valenzuela at 6 p.m., and Zamboanga against Quezon at 8 p.m.