San Juan, Caloocan draw first blood

San Juan hit high gear in the last three quarters and never sputtered to rout Rizal Xentromall, 79-64, in the opener of their North Division quarterfinal playoffs in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season late Saturday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.

Barely ahead after the first frame, 17-16, the San Juan Knights, with Michael Calisaan as spark plug, sped away at halftime, 48-38, and moved a win away from clinching the best-of-three series between the North’s top finisher and the eighth and last qualifier.

Calisaan posted 16 points, 10 in the second quarter, and five rebounds to clinch the Daily Fantasy Best Player honors over Dexter Maiquez, who tallied 14 points plus four rebounds, and Reynel Hugnatan with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds.

San Juan, which led by as far as 77-55 midway through the fourth quarter, drew eight points, five assists and three rebounds from Agem Miranda and seven points, five assists and four rebounds from Orlan Wamar.

Rizal got 13 points and 10 rebounds from Marco Balagtas and 13 points from Alwyn Alday, but no other Golden Cooler could hit twin digits.

Earlier, Caloocan weathered Manila SV Batang Sampaloc’s furious onslaught in the last quarter and notched a 79-78 squeaker in their own best-of-three series.

The Batang Kankaloo wasted a 20-point spread, 36-16, in the second quarter but held on through the heroics of Joco Tayongtong, who took over when Jeramer Cabanag fouled out, bunching eight points to fend off the rallying Stars.

Tayongton also canned the insurance free throw, 79-75, with 4.8 seconds left.

Manila’s Joshua Torralba buzzer-beater pegged the final count of the highly physical encounter that ushered in the eight-team playoffs in the North Division and South Division.

“We kept our composure when they came back and the breaks of the game went our way,” Caloocan coach Ronnie Dojillo said.