AICC Manila survived MTrans Batangas City’s late charge to post an 81-78 victory Tuesday and gain the solo lead in the FilBasket Subic Championship at the Subic gym.
MTrans scored six straight points in the last one and a half minute to cut its 81-74 deficit but time was not on its side as AICC Manila prevailed for its seventh win in eight outings.
Chris Bitoon and Hesed Gabo scored 18 and 12 points for AICC Manila, who banked on its outside shooting by firing nine triples.
MTrans, however, absorbed its fourth defeat in seven matches despite Jeff Viernes’ 32-point explosion.
Meanwhile, Pasig Sta. Lucia toppled Medical Depot, 78-65, to fan its winning streak to three games and improve to 4-3.
Cedrick Ablaza powered the Realtors with 18 points and nine rebounds while Rudy Lingganay also paced with 18 points, five boards and four assists.
Egie Boy Mojica and Dawn Ochea combined for 26 points while Simon Camacho hauled 13 rebounds on top of seven points, but their efforts went futile as Medical Depot skidded to 3-4 to tie with MTrans.
In the other game, the San Juan Knights ripped the Muntinlupa Defenders, 92-66, to hike their win-loss tally to 5-2 at third place.
The Knights led by as many as 31 points with four players scoring in double figures.
Jun Manzo and Paolo Hernandez topscored for San Juan with 16 and 12 points, while Arvin Gamboa and Christian Bunag contributed 11 points apiece.
Thomas Torres had 20 points on a 7-of-11 field goal shooting for Muntinlupa, who sank deeper into the bottom standings with a 0-7 hole.
