ZAMBOANGA Family’s Brand Sardines pounced on a cold Batangas City Embassy Chill in the fourth quarter to score a 63-53 victory last Tuesday and force a deciding Game 3 for the South division crown of the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season Presented by Xtreme at the people-packed Batangas City Coliseum.
Both teams struggled on offense in the last 10 minutes but the Zamboanguenos’ fared better with 15 points, 9 courtesy of Adrian Santos, who matched the 9-point output of the entire Batangas crew.
Santos, a former Batangas player, wound up with 13 points and 8 rebounds and was named best player of the game.
Jhaps Bautista led the Zamboanga scorers with 17 points, although he was held to 3 points in the second half.
Zamboanga’s top gun, Jaycee Marcelino, wound up with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals.
Batangas got 13 points and 10 rebounds from Cedric Ablaza and 11 points and 8 rebounds from Jeckster Apinan.
