GENERAL SANTOS. – General Santos City repulsed Bacolod Bingo Plus’ final assault to prevail 76-73 on Monday in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season Presented by Xtreme at the Lagao Gym here.
Ahead by 10 points, 72-62, the GenSan Warriors saw the Bacolodnons, led by veteran Mark Yee, cluster seven points to threaten at 72-69 with 1:12 to go.
A free throw by Nico Elorde and two more free throws by Christian Fajarito raised GenSan’s lead, but Aaron Jeruta drove in and canned two charities to push Bacolod to within 73-75.
An off-form Mark Cruz of GenSan split his two charities for the final count as Yee missed a probable game-tying triple with 10 seconds to go.
Bacoor blitzed Quezon City MG Cars in the fourth quarter to win pulling away, 60-58, in the opener of the MPBL’s four-game Mindanao swing.
The Bacoor Strikers improved to 6-9 while pulling down the QC Capitals to 7-7.
GenSan, being supported by OKbet, posted its sixth straight win and climbed to 10-5 in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 22-team tournament.
Bacolod dropped to 9-7 despite Yee’s 20-point, 10-rebound effort, Joel Lee Yu’s 13 points and Jhan McHale Nermal’s 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Nikko Panganiban paced GenSan with 16 points and 5 rebounds, followed by Dhon Reverente with 15 points and 8 rebounds, homegrown Cristopher Masaglang with 13 points and 5 rebounds and Marlon Gomez with 9 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists.
Actor Gerald Anderson, the pride of GenSan, played for 7 minutes and 10 seconds and contributed a triple.
