Davao, Pampanga, Biñan crush MPBL foes

Davao Occidental won by 64 points, Pampanga by 35, and Biñan by 19.

Routs marked the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Sixth Season elimination round at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna late Friday.

The returning Davao Occidental Tigers mauled the Imus Agimat VA Drones, 132-68; the reigning national champion Pampanga Giant Lanterns buried the Bicolandia Oragons, 128-93; while Biñan Tatak Gel Beast Motorcycle GameX routed Quezon City TODA Aksyon, 72-53.

Biñan notched its second straight win in as many starts, Pampanga raised its record to 3-1, while Davao climbed to 2-1 in the round-robin qualifying phase of the 29-team tournament.

James Martinez and Biboy Enguio fired 22 points each for the Tigers, who posted this year’s biggest spread thus far at the final buzzer.

Other Tigers who delivered were Dariel Bayla with 17 points, Kenneth Ighalo with 14 and Kurt Lojera with 12.

Imus absorbed its fourth straight defeat despite the 34-point explosion of John Rey Sumido. The Agimat also got 11 points from Kenneth Estabillo and 10 from Christian Luengco.

The Giant Lanterns, who fielded reigning Most Valuable Player Justine Baltazar for the first time this year, led by as far as 126-90 behind the 26 points of homegrown MJ Garcia, the 16 points of Encho Serrano, the 15 of Kurt Reyson, the 13 of Jhaymo Eguilos and the 11 of Miguel Ives Corteza.

The 6-foot-8 Baltazar settled for eight points, highlighted by two slam dunks, seven rebounds and six assists in 15:20 of play.

Bicolandia, which hogged the cellar at 0-5, got 19 points from Shaquille Alanes, 15 from Chris Javier and 14 each from Ralph Deles and Marvin Lee.

Biñan zoomed ahead, 55-25, through the efforts of high-flyer Poypoy Actub and Pamboy Raymundo, who scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Quezon City leveled its slate at 2-2 as only Rafael Are could submit twin digits with 11.