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| Rey Barcuma celebrates after a defensive stop. MPBL |
MANILA--Pasay escaped a scare from Ilagan in the second half to take a tightly contested 56-52 win in their MPBL clash on Thursday night at the former's home, the Cuneta Astrodome.
After holding the Cowboys to only seven points in the first quarter, the Voyagers scored only nine points in the third. The road team eventually led, 46-43, with seven minutes left in the fourth.
However, Pasay went on a 9-0 run to go up, 52-46, right at the two-minute mark.
Arth Dela Cruz ended Ilagan's five-minute scoreless spell with a three-pointer that cut the lead down to three, 52-49, with 1:43 to go.
However, Macoy Marcos failed to follow up on Dela Cruz's triple as he missed his long-range shot that could have tied the game again.
Dan Sara split his free throws to up the Voyagers' lead back to four as Dela Cruz missed another triple and turned the ball over in the next play that led to Jopet Soriano's dagger fastbreak layup with 17 seconds to go.
Allen Mina still tried to keep the Cowboys in the game with his own triple, but Brian Hilario iced the game with a split from the line.
Soriano scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and six rebounds for Pasay, which tied its victim at 1-1 after rebounding from a tough loss at Nueva Ecija on Monday night.
Laurenz Victoria and Warren Bonifacio each added 12 markers.
Dela Cruz led Ilagan with 12 points, 15 rebounds, and three assists.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
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