Espinas dagger powers Caloocan
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Gabby Espinas scored at the buzzer as Caloocan stunned San Juan, 79-78, in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season elimination round late Friday at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
Jeramer Cabanag found himself covered as he drove in, but saw Espinas open for the clincher that put the Batang Kankaloo’s drive for the fourth playoff spot in the North Division of the 29-team tournament going.
Caloocan climbed to 18-9 and could still dislodge Manila SV Batang Sampaloc (18-8) if it wins over also-ran Sarangani (5-21) and Manila yields to playoffs-bound Zamboanga on Saturday and also-ran Pangasinan (12-15) on Tuesday.
Joco Tayongtong also delivered for Caloocan, knocking in two free throws that pushed the Batang Kankaloo ahead anew, 77-76, after the top seed Knights clustered 8 points to wrest control at 76-75 with 41.8 seconds left.
San Juan’s Orlan Wamar, however, pierced Caloocan’s interior defense for an off-balanced jumper that temporarily silenced the local faithful with only 4.2 seconds to go.
The Batang Kankaloo, who greeted the fourth quarter with a seven-point run for a 69-55 spread, however, kept their poise to pull down the Knights’ final elimination round tally to 26-2.
Tayongtong finished with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals to clinch the Daily Fantasy best player honors over Rommel Calahat with 16 points and six rebounds and Espinas with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Wamar posted 22 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, followed by Dexter Maiquez with 11 points and 12 rebounds and John Galinato with 10 points.
Pasay banked on Axel Inigo and Dhon Reverevente to stun Nueva Ecija, 65-64, earlier.
Inigo knocked in a clutch triple while Reverente scored off a fake and a fallaway one-hander as the Pasay Voyagers clawed from a 59-63 deficit in the last 1:14 to wind up at 18-10.
Nueva Ecija had a chance to reverse the outcome but Kenneth Mocon missed his jumper in the dying seconds, pulling the third-ranked Rice Vanguards down to 24-4.
