Go rolled the league's best two games of 225 and 224, but could not sustain that run in the third game as he won just 2-1 against Charlie Haber. It was a big letdown for Go, who placed third in Davao, as his third game dipped to 148 to give the point to Haber.
Jun Rialubin, on the other hand, had a bad start scoring -- the same as Go -- but ended up with 201 and 203 but was not enough for the Panthers to overhaul a 129-pin deficit despite winning the last two games by margins of 47 and 27.
The loss, however, gave the Panthers a 134.5-won point total to take the lead by just a point.
Budget Savers was the hottest team that night as it gave up only two points to the Wild Cards to seize second spot with 133.5 won points.
Jimmy Uy and Nanding Albino gave up a single point each to Joe Agoot and Rob Lauro for the Wild Cards' measly two points that night, while Racquel Abubo and Jun Reyes whipped Ofie Villanueva and trial court judge Del Claravall, respectively. Leo Abubo at least equaled his average to win playing blind.
Beivz Tee led Liberty's charge by sweeping Mila Sanchez, 3-0, while Willy Ng and Bounty provided some muscles for their 2-1 wins over Ed Claridad and Nelly Arciaga, respectively, while Dondon Gadon did nothing to still win over Oscar Aquino.
Gadon, a National Transmission Commission executive, was absent that night but Aquino failed to match par that night, twice to give up two points against the absentee player.
Only the retiring Rolly de Guzman won for the four-week leader as he edged Joe Balaoing, 2-1, as X Generation fell to third spot with 133 won points.
Palm Grove CCF Bowlers saw one player win the second game but whipped up a storm in the final canto to win 16.5-7.5 against erstwhile third ranked Chamba.
Hubert Cornel gave up just a half point to John Lee to lead the four-time champion's charge even as Benrie Santiago and Mel Alcid edged Elmie Manansala and Cathy Cabfit, respectively.
It was a different set for Palm Grove as it tried to find its winning ways after its four-title run ended last year as Santiago took the second post, while Alcid went to the fourth spot. But it was worth it as the team went on to improve to fourth spot with 122 won points, while Chamba had 120 won points to fall fourth notches down to seventh.
And moving up to fifth was last year's runner-up, Cross Stitch, which won 22 points on a night playing blind for a 120.5 won points total that is good for fifth spot, four notches better than its ninth spot placement when the games commenced.
The reason for the lost two points were Most Valuable Player and perennial top lady bowler Flor Balaba and Ben Ayoong, who both failed to meet their averages.
Defending champion Gerco gave newcomer Moog some lessons in team playing to win empathically 19-5 to draw a tie with Chamba with 120 won points. But by virtue of its higher total pinfalls, Gerco took the higher sixth spot, a one-notch improvement from its previous seventh-spot placement.
Mike Casuga swept John Gapaya while Doris Santiago and Nikko Go scored 2-1 against Lala Cabradilla and Roel Quero to win for the team.
Amazingly despite the win, Mixed Nuts fell three notches to eight spot with 119 won points.
Even with only three men reporting that night, Kiwanis found itself a surprise winner when the whole Khatib team again failed to appear as the civic-oriented group took 13 points to move down to ninth from eighth with 112 won points.
Top 40 edged erstwhile cellar-dweller Mister Donut, 4-3, in the first game and a 16-pinfall advantage in the series, got five wins in the second but a whopping 106-pinfall advantage then swept its opponent in the last for a 19-5 victory and a notch improvement in the ranking to 10th with 110.5 won points.
Liberty moved up to 11th from 12th with 107, while Moog moved down to 12th (99.5). The Wild Cards remained at the 13th spot with 84, while Mister Donut moved out of the cellar with 74.5 points, followed by the new cellar dweller Khatib with 74.
