The Davao Occidental Dreamers gutted out a 76-73 win over the Bukidnon Cowboys to gain the top spot in the Mindanao area of the Pilipinas Super League 21-Under VisMin leg on Friday morning at the Cebu City Sports Institute.
The win by the Dreamers put their win-loss record at 7-1, good for best in the Mindanao area heading to next week’s playoff games. The victory also hiked the Dreamers’ winning streak to seven games, the longest in the tournament so far.
It all would not have happened had it not been for the spectacular play of point guard Lawrence Angeles who scored the bulk of his 11 points in the fourth period, including a tough pull-up jumper and a trifecta that put the Dreamers in front for good, 70-67, with 2:44 remaining in the game.
The Cowboys pulled to within one, 71-72, after a jumper by Kent Salarda, but Angeles once again came to the rescue, scoring a floater to raise their lead to three, 74-71. After a missed three-pointer by Bukidnon, Rainier Maga then added two from the line for a 76-71 lead with 11 ticks remaining.
The Cowboys had one last push as Salarda scored inside to cut the deficit to three, and then, forced a turnover on the other end to give Bukidnon a shot at tying the game with two seconds to go. However, Bagay came up with a huge steal on the inbound pass to secure the win for Davao Occidental.
Maga led Davao Occidental in scoring with 16 points and five steals.
Bukidnon saw their four-game winning streak come to an end as they fell to 6-2.
In the first game, Asturias came back from a 19-point deficit to pull off a thrilling 74-71 win over the Cagayan de Oro Kingfishers. AJ Sacayan scored a game-high 30 points highlighted by six three-pointers, the last of which came with 57 seconds to go to give the Corn Ranchers a 72-68 advantage.
Angelo Mercado answered with a three of his own to pull CDO to within one, 71-72, but Jhollo Pakanna scored a nifty layup to raise Asturias’ lead back to three with 27 seconds remaining. The Kingfishers had numerous chances to tie the game up but missed them before time expired to give the Corn Ranchers the victory.
Den Orgong had 18 points and seven rebounds to help fuel Asturias’ comeback froma. 31-50 deficit early in the third canto. Asturias now has a 3-5 card while CDO, which won four straight to start the tournament, has now lost four in a row, to drop to 4-4.