Batangas, Abra, Mindoro rip foes

Batangas and Abra drubbed their opponents and remained within sight of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season pacesetters at the jampacked Pola Gymnasium in Oriental Mindoro.

Banking on their outside gunners, the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters cruised past the Bicolandia Oragons, 107-94, in the opener while the Abra Weavers hammered out an 89-57 victory over the Bulacan Kuyas, 89-57, in the second game.

Meanwhile, the Mindoro Tamaraws bucked a sluggish start to rout the Imus Agimat VA Drones, 82-68, in the nightcap.

Against the Oragons, Batangas gunner Philip Paniamogan hit five triples and MJ dela Virgen added four as the Rum Masters pooled 17 triples that propelled them to a 12-4 record in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.

Filling up the role of main man Levi Hernandez, Paniamogan wound up with 25 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals to earn Best Player honors over Dela Virgen, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

Mark Niel Cruz posted 13 points and seven rebounds while Cedric Ablaza contributed 10 points and five rebounds for Batangas, which trailed unbeaten Quezon (14-0), Pampanga (15-1), San Juan (13-1), Nueva Ecija (12-2) and Zamboanga (12-3) in the race for playoff spots.