Giant Lanterns keep glowing; Negros, Munti prevail

Powerhouse Pampanga thumped Batangas, 88-62, to extend its dominant run in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Sixth Season at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The Giant Lanterns, with Encho Serrano and Archie Concepcion fueling the offense and Justine Baltazar ruling the boards, went full throttle in the fourth quarter to lead by as far as 79-49 and notch their 18th straight win after an initial loss in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.

Encho Serrano wound up with 28 points, including 13 in the last 10 minutes, four assists and three rebounds to clinch the Daily Fantasy Best Player honors over Concepcion, who finished with 17 points, two steals and two assists in more than 17 minutes of action, and Baltazar, who settled for four points but grabbed 23 rebounds and issued seven assists for the defending champions.

Baltazar was so overpowering inside that he and Lervin Flores, who had seven boards, outrebounded the entire Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters, 30-29, en route to a total of 55 boards for the Giant Lanterns.

The Giant Lanterns converted their rebounding prowess to more points inside the paint, 40-28, and allowed their second stringers to outscore their Rum Master counterparts, 40-13.

Batangas, the MPBL inaugural titlist in 2018, absorbed its third loss in its last five games and dropped to 12-6.

The Giant Lanterns got 16 points, four rebounds and two steals from Kris Porter, 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists from Cedric Ablaza, and 12 points from Juneric Baloria.

Pampanga’s romp was in stark contrast to the scrambling victories by Negros and Muntinlupa earlier.

The Negros Muscovados rallied to trip the Pangasinan Heatwaves, 87-86, in the second game while the Muntinlupa Cagers nipped the Bulacan Kuyas, 64-60, in the opener.

Down by as far as 37-55 and still behind, 82-86, with 1 minute and 6 seconds to go, Negros got the lift from a 3-point play by Felipe Chavez and a breakaway drive by Miguel Gabriel Ramos off an errant pass by Pangasinan’s John Paul Maguillano to improve to 9-11.

John Rey Villanueva and Buenaventura Raflores led Negros with 18 points each, followed by Renz Palma with 15, and Chavez with 13 to go with 5 rebounds and six assists.

Pangasinan, which was still up, 70-60, heading to the fourth quarter, fell to 7-12 despite the 19-point, six-rebound effort of Maguillano and the 18-point, three-rebound output of Ralph Robin.

Trailing, 57-58, the Muntinlupa Cagers closed out with a 7-2 run on a drive by Lester Tamayo, a triple by Joshua Ramirez, and two free throws by Joshua Miguel Marcos that sealed the outcome with 6.7 seconds left and rose to 6-13.

Marcos finished with 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals for the Cagers, who also drew nine points plus nine rebounds from Errol Jay Bongay, eight points plus eight rebounds from Marc Lester Tamayo, and eight points, three rebounds plus three assists from Jasper Derek Cuevas.