San Juan prevailed as expected while Muntinlupa and Parañaque pulled off stunners in the OKBet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Fifth Season elimination round on Friday at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex.
The San Juan Knights trounced Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc., 115-86, to raise their record to 19-4 and tighten their hold of the third spot in the North division of the 29-team tournament.
The Muntinlupa Cagers banked on JP Sarao’s layup and John Amores’ two free throws to nip the Makati OKBet Kings, 67-66, who went scoreless in the last 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and rise to 13-10 in the South division.
Makati had one last chance to reverse the outcome, but Rob Celiz missed on a layup with 5 seconds to go, sending the Kings to their seventh defeat in 24 starts.
The Parañaque Patriots, on the other hand, bunched six points in the last 2:12 to foil the Imus SV Squad, 86-81, and climb to 10-15.
John Anthony Umali led Parañaque with 16 points, followed by Paolo Castro with 14, John Uduba with 12, Jaybos Solis with 11 Keith Pido with 10.
Imus, which skidded to 10-12, got 17 points plus nine rebounds from Nino Cañaleta, 14 points from Jimboy Estrada and 11 points from Jayjay Helterbrand.
