Pacesetter Bacoor and Caloocan won over also-ran opponents on Wednesday, Sept. 13, in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Wes Arena in Valenzuela City.

The Bacoor Strikers routed the Negros Muscovados, 88-72, to tighten their grip on the top spot in the South division with a 22-win, 4-loss record.

Not to be outdone, the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo trounced the Rizal XentroMall Golden Coolers, 108-82, to rev up their drive for a top four slot in the North division with a 19-8 slate.

Spearheaded by veteran Mark Yee, Bacoor surged to a 65-44 spread late in the third quarter before coasting to their sixth straight win and pulling down the Muscovados to 10-17.

Yee posted 12 points and 6 rebounds to complement the 13-point output of Mark Montuano, the 12-point effort of Alwyn Alday and the 10-point contribution of John Lopez.

With the game under control, Bacoor Coach Alex Angeles shuffled all of his 15 players, only one of whom failed to score.

Negros got 26 points from John Maloles, 14 from Roberto Bartolo and 11 from Leo James Ingles.

Paul Sanga and Jeramer Cabanag scored 17 and 16, respectively, for Caloocan, which led by as far as 95-67 in the fourth quarter. They were supported by John Tayongtong with 12 points and Jacob Galicia with 11.

Although eight teams from both divisions will advance to the playoffs, the top four finishers after the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament will have the homecourt edge in the best-of-three encounters.

Rizal, which fell to 11-15, got 18 points from Reynaldo De Mesa, 13 from Jeric James Pido, 11 from Jonas Tibayan and 10 from Franz Abuda.

Paranaque subdued Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc., 84-75, in the nightcap to climb to 11-15.

The Patriots drew 12 points from John Umali and 10 each from Paolo Castro, Joshua Gallano and Jayboy Solis.

Valenzuela skidded to 3-23 despite the 13-point, six-assist, two-rebound, two-steal of Darell Manliguez.

The MPBL visits the Bataan People's Center in Balanga City on Thursday, with Pampanga battling Bacolod at 4 p.m., Makati tackling Pasay at 6 p.m., and GenSan testing Bataan at 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, Jean Paolo Delos Santos drilled in his long shot to become the seventh winner of the Suzuki Avenis Half-court Shootout. The feat was worth a  Suzuki Avenis motorcycle for Delos Santos, a real state agent of Valenzuela team sponsor XUR Homes Realty Inc. from Lias, Marilao, Bulacan.