MANILA – Bacolod BingoPlus tasted its first defeat in the 2022 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. It lost 72-66 to Batangas City Embassy Chill over the weekend at Caloocan Sports Complex.
Bacolod were just down by two at 26-28 at the half but Batangas City went on a massive run in the third quarter behind Juneric Baloria as they established a 56-48 advantage entering the final quarter.
Back-to-back hits by Cedric Ablaza to start the fourth quarter gave Batangas City its largest lead at 60-48 but Bacolod responded with consecutive treys from Jhan Nermal and Kraniel Villoria to cut the deficit to 54-62.
Batangas City increased its lead back to 66-54 with back-to-back inside baskets from Ablaza and Vincent Importante but Bacolod just refused to give up as it chopped the lead to 60-66 via six straight points from Richard Albo.
Two conversions from Levi Hernandez followed by a layup by Baloria widened Batangas City’s lead anew to 72-62 before the Bacolod ended the match with conversions from Jeramer Cabanag and Edrian Lao.
Baloria was named as the Player of the Game for Batangas City as he finished with nine points, seven of which came in the critical third quarter breakaway, as his team stayed undefeated after five matches.
Ablaza top-scored with 18 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists, while Hernandez contributed 15 markers, with two outside conversions, for the streaking Embassy Chill.
Lao ended up with 16 points and nine rebounds, Alwyn Alday also finished the game with 16 markers to go with six assists, while Albo contributed 13 points as Bacolod dropped to 4-1.
“The team felt the absence of our key players Mark Yee and Jerome Garcia. But, even with the loss, we are still on top of the Southern Conference standings,” said Bacolod team manager Leo Bat-Og.
The Bacolod BingoPlus will have a lengthy break before plunging back to MPBL action at five in the afternoon on June 28 against the Laguna Krah Heroes at the Batangas City Coliseum.
BOX SCORE:
BATANGAS 72 – Ablaza 18, Hernandez 15, Baloria 9, Importante 7, Olivares 6, Dela Virgen 5, Villanueva 4, Ambulodto 3, Lingganay 2, Alarcon 2, Lunor 1, Gonzales 0, Ochea 0, Cruz 0.
BACOLOD 66 – Lao 16, Alday 16, Albo 13, Villoria 9, Nermal 5, Cabanag 4, Ilagan 3, Jeruta 0, Dionson 0, Solis 0, Lee Yu 0, Pastias 0, Tulipas 0.
Quarterscores: 10-10, 28-26, 56-48, 72-66./PN
