
Manila sinks Pateros
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.