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| Mark Meneses denies Joggy Laude with one of his four blocks. MPBL |
MANILA--Boomboom Tampus detonated in the fourth quarter to spearhead Cebu's comeback to stun Caloocan, 77-76, in an MPBL thriller on Thursday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Tampus scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter including nine within the last 3:20 of the game capped by his triple that tied the game at 73-all with 1:51 left.
Brylle Meca then completed the comeback from 19 points down by scoring a floater to put the Classic ahead, 75-73, with 1:20 to go, although he kept the door open for the Batang Kankaloo to tie the game anew after splitting his charities with 46 seconds left.
However, Chris Bitoon missed back-to-back threes that could have forced the deadlock and Daryll Manliguez grabbed the crucial rebound which eventually led to him making a free throw to up the lead to four, 77-73, with 10 seconds left.
Jeramer Cabanag scored a quick three to cut the lead down to one and grabbed the loose ball after Lean Martel missed two free throws with five seconds remaining.
However, the scramble after Martel's free throws bought some time that Cabanag failed to give Jeff Manday an outlet pass in time for what a layup that could have given Caloocan the win.
Tampus went 5-for-8 from the field for his 16 points even as he too tallied four rebounds, three assists, and one steal for the Sharks franchise, which returned to the MPBL after five years.
Rashawn McCarthy added 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, four steals, and one block, while Mark Meneses put up 12 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, four blocks, and one steal for Cebu, which outscored Caloocan, 32-13, in the fourth.
Meca and Ladis Lepalam contributed 10 points each with the latter going 4-for-4 from the field for his points.
Paul Casin put up 14 points, four rebounds, one rebound, and one assist for the Batang Kankaloo, who failed to win their MPBL debut a few days after winning the PSL title.
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