Basilan Steel stun Pasay Voyagers on the road

Allyn Bulanadi led Basilan in scoring with 18 points. MPBL

By Xy-Zha Cabanlong

PASAY CITY - The Basilan Steel momentarily tarnished the hopes of the Pasay Voyagers for an outright playoffs berth, defeating them at their home turf, 74-59, Friday night at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The onset of the game had been neck and neck as both teams exchanged leads and caught in deadlocks. The first quarter eventually ended with the Voyagers leading by a hair; 21-20.

Come the second quarter, Basilan managed to sail away after Dennis Daa broke the deadlock, giving the lead to the Steel, 33-31, with 3:48 left to play in the quarter.

From there, the visitors were able to extend the lead to 8 points, 39-31, after a 4-0 run against Pasay to close the first half.

Basilan surged all the more at the start of the 3rd period as they managed to lead as much as 17 points against the Voyagers, 50-33.

The Pasay side created a counter attack through the efforts of Axel Inigo, Don Reverente, Ron Lastimosa and Raymund Ilagan to trim the lead down to only 7 points; 50-43.

Hesed Gabo closed the quarter down, giving Basilan a 9-point advantage, 52-43.

In the final quarter, while Pasay was able to trim Basilan's lead down to only 6 points through a triple scored by Jan Jamon, Jay Collado was able to recover for the Steels as he sank a triple, bringing the advantage back to 9, 60-51.

Jayson Opiso's back-to-back triples in the last 2 minutes of the ball game came in too late for the Voyagers to recover as Allyn Bulanadi and ex-Voyager Bobby Balucanag joined efforts to secure Basilan's advantage in the dying minutes of the ball game.

Gabo was named as the best player of the game, chipping in 10 points, two rebounds, 13 assists, and four steals.

Bulanadi led the Steel in scoring with 18 markers alongside five rebounds, two assists, and four steals.

Pasay will now have to hope that Caloocan loses their next two games in order for them to clinch the last playoff seat.

The Scores:

Basilan-Jumbo Plastic 74 - Bulanadi 18, Gabo 10, Balucanag 8, Daa 8, Dumapig 8, Bautista 7, Collado 6, Dagangon 5, Manalang 4, Uyloan 0, Alanes 0, Bringas 0.

Pasay 59 - Jamon 13, Inigo 8, Ilagan 8, Belencion 8, Reverente 7, Opiso 6, Lastimosa 5, Lasquety 2, Moradas 2, Pasia 0, Chan 0.

Quarterscores: 20-21, 39-31, 52-43, 74-59.

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