Victoria jumper keys Pasay victory

Laurenz Victoria hit a dagger jumper at the buzzer to power Pasay past Batangas, 65-64, in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

The long two-pointer by the former Mapua Cardinal capped a closing seven-point run by the Voyagers in the last 64 seconds that reversed the outcome of the game controlled by the Batangas City Rum Masters for a little over 20 minutes.

Patrick Sleat’s floater and triple sparked Pasay’s comeback from as far as 34-47 and as late as 58-64 with only 88 seconds left, pushing the Voyagers record to 3-1 in the elimination round of the country’s top regional league.

The Voyagers drew 15 points plus three rebounds from Sleat, 12 points, five rebounds plus seven assists from Victoria, and 14 points plus eight rebounds from Warren Bonifacio.

Batangas skidded to a tie with its tormentor at 3-1 as Cedric Ablaza’s 18-point, 12-rebound, two-steal, two-block, two-assist effort went for naught.

Levi Hernandez was the other Rum Master in twin digits with 10 points.

Other games saw Rizal XentroMall cruise to a coast-to-coast 92-81 victory over South Cotabato and San Juan trounce Iloilo, 106-78.

Alwyn Alday sparkled for Rizal, which climbed to 4-0 and shared the lead with Parañaque and Zamboanga, with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Villoria provided solid support with 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Homegrown John Apacible also shone for Rizal with 12 points plus five rebounds, followed by Marco Balagtas with 11 points plus four rebounds.

South Cotabato, formerly GenSan, trailed by as many as 31-55 and skidded to 2-2. The Warriors got 19 points plus five rebounds from Val Acuna, 14 points from Mark Cruz, 12 points from John Wilson and 10 points plus six rebounds from Kyle Tolentino.