The Iloilo United Royals six-game winning streak in the ongoing 2019-2020 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Lakan Cup came to an end last Friday after falling 96-92 to the Muntinlupa City Cagers at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila.
Despite Muntinlupa taking a 38-25 lead, Iloilo narrowed the deficit to 49-47 at halftime following a 22-11 run, including three triples from Mark Racho.
Into the third period, Iloilo went toe-to-toe with Muntinlupa and took a 72-70 lead before struggling on offense and were left without a single field-goal in the fourth until the 2:29 mark after a triple from Ilonggo point guard Aaron Jeruta, cutting their deficit to 89-82.
“We really prepared for Iloilo, alam na namin ‘yung gagawin nilang pupunta sila sa three-pointer nila (We really prepared for Iloilo, we knew they would be going for three-pointers),” said Muntinlupa head coach Chico Tirona. “We were just finding the mismatches; we [went] small when they went big.”
Biboy Enguio finished with with 26 points and 10 rebounds for Muntinlupa, while Edzel Mag-isa added 14 markers, and Paeng Regubio and GJ Ylagan each chipped in 11.
Meanwhile, Jeruta scored 21 points on four triples for Iloilo, while Alfrancis Tamsi finished with 18.
Iloilo currently sits in fourth place in the southern division with a 15-9 record./ASC, WDJ