South division teams Bacoor, General Santos and Cebu City beat their North counterparts Wednesday and revved up their playoffs drive in the Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Season at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
The Bacoor Strikers thwarted the Marikina Shoemasters, 100-88, while the GenSan Warriors rallied to down the Pasay Voyagers, 76-69, as they kept their 2-3 spots behind the Davao Occidental Tigers in the 15-team South.
The Strikers, who led from start to finish, posted their fifth straight victory and climbed to 20-5, just behind the Tigers (20-3).
GenSan dropped seven straight points to snap the game’s last tie at 65 and improve to 16-8
Cebu Casino Ethyl Alcohol started strong and never let the Quezon City Capitals to recover en route to a 95-89 victory that raised the Sharks to 11-12, within sight of the eighth-ranked Bicol Volcanoes (13-12).
The Sharks zoomed ahead at 39-20 and never wavered behind the guns of William McAloney and Fletch Galvez to pull down the Capitals to 10-16.
McAloney and Galvez contributed 17 points and 5 rebounds each for Cebu, while Rhaffy Octobre came through with 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
Bacoor banked on Michael Canete, Michael Mabulac, Gab Banal and RJ Ramirez to ward off the spirited Shoemasters, who tumbled to 4-9.
Canete scored 19, grabbed 12 rebounds, handed 3 assists and blocked 3 shots, while Mabulac tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds in another double-double.
Ramirez carded 13 points, while Banal, the MPBL Datu Cup MVP, wound up with 9 points, 10 assists and s9 rebounds.
The Shoemasters dropped to 4-9 despite the 35-point explosion of Yves Sazon and the 21-point, 23-rebound effort of Renato Ular.
Former pro Pamboy Raymundo shone for the Warriors with 23 points and four assists, and so did Robby Celiz with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
Pasay, which pulled away at 24-9 only to lose steam and suffer its 12th setback against 13 wins, got 16 points from Ronnel Jay Lastimosa, 14 from Axel Inigo, and 12 from Jan Jamon.
.jpg&description=South%E2%80%99s%20Bacoor%2C%20GenSan%2C%20Cebu%20defeat%20North%20rivals%20in%20MPBL){kind=link}