HOST Manila outlasted Bataan in a battle of two favored squads in the Maharlika Pilipinas Baskteball League’s (MPBL) Datu Cup even as the new-look Navotas team showed a lot of promise in posting an impressive come from behind victory late Saturday night at the San Andres Gym in Manila.
The Robust Energy Capsule-supported Manila Stars, coached by Philip Cezar, trailed in the third period, but recovered in time to pull off an 89-82 triumph in the main game.
Behind veterans Drian Celada, Riel Cervantes and young star Aris Dionisio, the Stars overcame a 10-point deficit behind a blistering 15-3 run in the third period to turn a 56-46 deficit to a 61-59 edge.
Manila even posted its biggest lead at 84-74 but watched Bataan came in closer to within striking distance following eight unanswered points before the Stars got a big break in the final 1:25 of the game when Bataan Risers coach Jojo Lastimosa was called for a technical foul for pointing an accusing finger to an official.
That led to five straight points for the Stars as the Risers couldn’t buy a basket in the final minute.
Manila’s victory in front of its jampacked crowd was nearly overshadowed by Navotas’ 83-75 win over Pasay in the first game.
The Navotas Clutch, who are now being handled by new coach Ritchie Ticzon, paraded an entirely new team with the exception of two holdovers who played a key role in allowing the team to come up with a good first impression. The team silently built up in the off season, but for Mr. Ticzon, the familiarity of some of the players as well as the coaches in the system they’ve been running made the transition more smooth-sailing.
“A lot of people here know the system that we’ve been running. It wasn’t that difficult for us even though the team is entirely new,” added Mr. Ticzon, who took over the reins from Elvis Tolentino, now head coach of Marikina.
Doing much damage on Pasay’s defense was Navotas’ new top gun, ex-TNT player Levy Hernandez, who knocked in 26 points and was ably backed up by Rey Publico, now the team captain of the team.
The athletic 6-foot-5 Publico contributed 22 points and nine rebounds for the Clutch, who climbed back from a 25-13 deficit before turning things around the rest of the way. — Rey Joble
