The Caloocan Batang Kankaloo showed steadiness in the endgame to pull off a 79-78 upset over the Manila SV Batang Sampaloc SGA Stars in Game 1 of the 2024 MPBL season North Division quarterfinals on Saturday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Holding to a slim 72-71 lead with over a minute left, John Tayongtong converted back-to-back baskets to give the Batang Kankaloo a 76-71 lead, but free throws by Gregory Slaughter and Mike Tolomia pulled Manila to within 75-76 with 11 seconds left.
Achie Inigo and Tayongtong then converted three free throws to extend Caloocan’s lead to 79-75 before Manila ended the match with a buzzer-beating triple from Joshua Torralba.
Jeramer Cabanag led the way with 22 points, three assists, and one steal, while Tayongtong added 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists for Batang Kankaloo, which can close out the best-of-three first-round series next Saturday.
“Kailangan talaga namin ng composure sa endgame kasi kita naman na ‘yung Manila, ang lalaki nila, kaya ang gameplan namin is tiyagain sila kasi wala naman kaming magagawa sa height nila eh, talagang sinipagan na lang namin,” Tayongtong said.
Slaughter and Jorey Napoles finished with an identical double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Stars, while Torralba contributed 13 markers.
Meanwhile, the San Juan Knights Go for Gold also secured a series-opener win against the Rizal XentroMall Golden Coolers, 79-64. Michael Calisaan led the way with 16 points, while Dexter Maiquez and Reynel Hugnatan added 14 and 10, respectively.
The post MPBL Playoffs: Caloocan upsets Manila in Game 1 first appeared on Fastbreak.
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