MANILA drew inspiration from former PBA star Joseph Yeo to roll back Pateros, 86-83, and gain a share of the North Division lead with Quezon City in Metro League Open basketball championship at the San Andres Sports Complex.

Yeo, the No. 3 pick overall by the Coca-Cola Tigers in the 2006 PBA Draft, finished with a near triple double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes for the All Stars, who debuted with a 90-82 win over Marikina during opening day last Sept. 30.

Yeo teamed-up with Jay Mark Mallari,  Kenneth Acibar  and Mark Christian Yu for Manila, which took control early in the game before holding off Pateros’ last-ditch rally in the final game of a three-game bill organized by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and  supported by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Mallari topscored for Manila with 17 points, including two free throws with six seconds left that sealed the win.

Jio Lopez of Pateros hit two free throws of his own to make the score close at the end.

Earlier, Quezon City leaned on Cyrus Tabi’s buzzer-beating jump shot to edge San Juan, 84-82, for a 2-0 record; and  Paranaque rallied from eight points down to beat  Las Pinas, 101-96, for a 1-1 slate.

Tabi’s heroics came after Rizaldy Corpuz nailed a three-point  shot  to tie the  score at  82-all with  still  nine  seconds remaining.

Tabi, last year’s Most Valuable Player in the 24-and-under tournament while playing for Mandaluyong, finished with a game-high 26  points on  10-of-16 shooting,

John  Carl Melegrito  added 13 points, Roque Estoce, Jr. contributed 12 points  and 13 rebounds and Sandy Senal  had  10  points and 11 rebounds  for  the  Stars.

Joshua Saret led San Juan with 19  points  and  nine  rebounds and    King Astrero   added 16 points,  six   rebounds  and  four assists.

Raffy Gusi topscored with 29 points, six rebounds and six assists for Paranaque,  which putscored Las Pinas, 34-21, in the oayoff period.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.  had a double double of  23 points and 14 rebounds for the Green Berets.

A total  of 10 cities  divided into two groups — North and South —  are   seeing action   in the event which  has “mobile   app  ng   bayan”  Barangay 143 as  presentor, Spalding  as  the official   ball, Team  Rebel  Sports as official outfitter and Synergy 88, San Miguel Corp., World  Balance, Frabelle Foods,  Summit Mineral Water, Alco Plus, Gerry’s  Grill, Excellent Noodles, glitter.ph,  SM Supermalls and Nature’s Spring  as  major  sponsors.