Bicol Express-Filinvest bucked a slow start and went full throttle in the final quarter to trash Cagers 86- 53 and notch their fourth straight victory in McFearin Basketball Association Season 1 at Zayed Bin Sultan Gym in Satwa, Dubai.
Bicol Express struggled to get a basket in the first half of the game and even trailed Cagers by 10 points, 24-14, in the middle of the second quarter. But they started to find their rhythm in the third and took the driver’s seat, 46-42, with the best players of the game Arrie Balneg and Ritchell Sarabia leading the way. The pair also played key roles in rousing their team mates to have a scoring spree in the fourth quarter where they produced 40 points, compared to Cagers’ nine-point production.
Bicol Express showed balanced scoring with six players finishing in double digits. Balneg and Sarabia led with 14 and 12 points respectively.
“We’re fortunate we came back from a sluggish start,” said Bicol Express-Filinvest coach Vicente Berces, whose team’s winning average is 18 points per game. “It’s always great to win by a big margin but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, siblings Winston and Lloyd Lopez combined for 38 points as Luminous defeated Zuma 75-74, Abe-Cabalen cruised to their third-straight win after beating Victorious 105-78 and MyHD Pinoy TV lost 86-80 to DXB Wizards.