San Juan survives Laguna's Q4 scare to score road win

Michael Calisaan led the Knights' charge. MPBL

By Ivan Saldajeno

STA. ROSA, Laguna--San Juan's early silencing of Laguna turned out to be enough as the latter made things interesting in the fourth quarter only to fall short and the former won on the road, 78-68, in their MPBL Saturday night game at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.

Taking quick control of the game, the Knights raced to a lead as high as 27 points, 69-42, late in the third quarter.

However, the Heroes responded with a 17-2 run spanning through the midway part of the fourth quarter that cut the lead down to 12, 71-59.

Back-to-back baskets from Michael Calisaan seemed to have doused cold water on Laguna's endgame attack as San Juan's lead was stretched back to 16, 75-59, but the home team responded with five straight points to draw them to within just 11, 64-75, with 1:47 left.

Judel Fuentes finally shut the door on the Heroes with the dagger three in the next play before the hosts scored the last four points of the game to keep the final margin respectable.

Calisaan finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, five rebounds, and four assists for San Juan, which moved up to 2-3 in the standings.

Orlan Wamar added 15 points on 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc, seven rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

VJ Serios tallied 13 markers, six boards, one dime, one block, and two steals for Laguna, which failed to complete a comeback for the second straight game and dropped to 1-3.

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