MANILA – Iloilo United Royals suffered another defeat in the 2019-2020 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Lakan Cup.
It lost, 71-78, to Makati Super Crunch
on Thursday night at the Marikina Sports Center.
This was the second straight loss of the Ilonggo squad. It thus slumped to a
7-9 win-loss record in the South Division standings.
Super Crunch, on the other hand, had
15-3 win-loss slate.
It set the tempo early in the match by surging to a 22-17 lead after the
opening quarter.
The Ilonggos tried to bounce back in the second but Makati regained its shooting for a 36-32 halftime score.
In the second half, the Royals managed to keep in step with the Super Crunch; they were only down 55-56 before the Ilonggos took a slim 57-56 lead on a basket by Al Francis Tamsi.
But that was the last stand of Iloilo. Makati leaned on conversions from Joseph Sedurifa and Cedric Ablaza as the lead went up to 77-67 on a free throw by Juneric Baloria.
Baloria finished the match with 15 points, while Ablaza and Mark Neil Cruz added 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Super Crunch.
Rey Publico and Donald Gumaru had their best games for the Royals as they tallied 15 points each but it went to naught with the defeat./PN
