Pampanga got monster figures from Justine Baltazar and an all-around effort from JB Bahio to subdue San Juan, 86-82, in Game 1 of their Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Fifth Season North Division Finals late Saturday at the people-packed Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center.
The 6-foot-8 Baltazar, the Most Valuable Player race pacesetter, poured 23 points on top of 20 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block, while the 6-foot-5 Bahio posted 14 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and one steal as the Giant Lanterns stretched their win streak to 14 at home and moved within a win of clinching their first division crown in the country’s top regional league.
The Giant Lanterns, being coached by Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda, will try to cut short their best-of-three series with the Knights at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Other Giant Lanterns who shone were Archie Concepcion with 11 points, Encho Serrano with 10 points, five rebounds and six assists, and veteran Arwin Santos with eight points, including two clutch triples.
San Juan got 20 points from Marwin Taywan, 14 points from Orlan Wamar, 12 points plus 12 rebounds from Michael Calisaan, 11 points plus 11 rebounds from Adrian Nocum and eight points plus nine rebounds from Zachary Huang.
Back-to-back triples by Concepcion and Santos pushed Pampanga ahead, 74-64, but the Knights rallied and threatened at 82-85, following two free throws each from Taywan and Wamar, with 45 seconds to go.
The Knights couldn’t score from there, however, and MJ Garcia sealed the outcome by sinking the back end of his charities with 5.5 ticks left.
Although San Juan buried the first basket, Pampanga responded with a 13-point cluster for what turned out to be the game’s biggest spread.
With Baltazar firing 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, Pampanga posted a 43-37 halftime lead.
