MANILA – Bacolod BingoPlus moved closer to the next round of the 2022 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League playoffs after an 81-77 win over GenSan Warriors in Game 1 of the Southern Division quarterfinals on Monday in Zamboanga City.
Negrense forward Jhan McHale Nermal was named Player of the Game after tallying double-double 20 points and 11 rebounds to go with four steals for the Bacolodnons.
Alwyn Alday added 20 markers, including two triples. Aaron Jeruta and Jeramer Cabanag had 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Mark Yee added double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds for BingoPlus.
Bacolod surged to a 12-3 start behind early conversions from Nermal and Jeruta. GenSan rallied to within 10-12 but the Bacolodnons answered with shots from Cabanag for a 17-10 edge.
The Warriors started strong in the second period as they seized a 21-20 lead. Bacolod took back the lead for a while before GenSan countered with another scoring run to build a 34-31 halftime lead.
GenSan went on to build their largest lead at 37-31 after an Elvin Chan triple but Bacolod turned things around with inside conversions by Nermal and Jeruta and triples by Alday and Yee for a 57-43 upperhand.
The Warriors countered with their own rally bridging the third and fourth quarter as they chopped down Bacolod’s lead to 67-70 midway in the final quarter after a triple by Nico Elorde.
But back-to-back baskets from Alday, Nermal and Yee and free throws by Nermal and Joel Lee Yu gave Bacolod an 81-73 lead before GenSan came up with two late baskets for the final margin.
Christopher Macaslang tallied 13 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists, Elorde and Christian Fajarito had 12 markers each, while Brian Hilario added 10 for the Warriors.
The Bacolod BingoPlus can wrap up the best-of-three quarterfinals series when it battles the Warriors anew at nine in the evening on October 24 at the General Santos Gymnasium./PN
