JUSTINE Baltazar showed why he is one of the country’s prized big men, leading the Pampanga G Lanterns to a 78-70 victory over Sta. Rosa Laguna last Monday night for their second straight win in the Manila Bankers Life-Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando.
In front of his home crowd, Baltazar, a Gilas Pilipinas national team training pool member who hails from Mabalacat City, scored 14 points and grabbed 20 rebounds while Archie Concepcion led the team with a game-high 20 and two boards.
King Caralipio and Kurt Reyson also had 12 and 10 points, respectively, as the G Lanterns did an encore to a 129-93 drubbing of 1Munti last Saturday and hiked their record to 9-5 in a tie with Boracay for sixth.
The Lions, coming off a 133-74 thrashing of San Pedro Laguna-ARS last Wednesday, slipped to 10-4, still good for solo fourth in the cage wars presented by Dumper party-list, Winzir, and Skin Care Depot.
In other games, Boracay trounced Bagong Cabuyao-Homelab Nation 95-79 while Quezon City nipped Cagayan de Oro-PSP 97-96.
JBoy Solis paced Sta. Rosa with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Jeramer Cabanag and John Nermal got 11 and 10, respectively.
