MANILA – Japeth Aguilar and Arwind Santos went on dunking spree as the North All-Stars cruised to a 185-170 win over South All-Stars in the 2019 PBA All-Stars Weekend last night at the Calasiao Sports Complex in Calasiao, Pangasinan.
Aguilar, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings forward, ignited the North All-Stars right in the opening quarter as converted seven throw downs to immediately pull away from South, 51-25.
In the second quarter, it was the turn of San Miguel Beermen stalwart Santos to take over for the North team as he came up with dunks and inside hits to keep the South at bay at 89-75 at the half.
South, however, mounted a huge run in the third period and was able to come to as close as 90-92 but the North pulled away anew with Aguilar converting dunks, including one when he jumped over South’s June Mar Fajardo, to went ahead at 137-122.
The South team made its last push in the fourth quarter but Aguilar and Santos were there to keep their opponents at bay as the North increased the lead back to 20 markers.
Santos and Aguilar were then named as the exhibition match’s co-MVP with the former finishing with 34 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, while the latter submitting 32 points and eight rebounds.
Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter contributed 18 and 12, respectively, LA Tenorio had triple-double 11 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists, while Calvin Abueva had double-double 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Peter June Simon top-scored for South All-Stars with 34 points, Fajardo had double-double 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Jiovani Jalalon had triple-double 15 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists./PN
