By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Bacolod City of Smiles tasted another lopsided defeat in the 2024 MPBL Season after bowing to the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters, 79-54, at the Orion Sports Complex in Orani, Bataan on Thursday night, August 1.

Mark Neil Cruz finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 20 minutes as Batangas notched their second consecutive victory for a 14-6 win-loss record.

After Batangas established a 30-18 lead early in the second quarter, Bacolod went on a run behind Tricky Peromingan, Louie Vigil and Danny Marilao to cut the deficit to 32-38 at the half.

Bacolod pulled even closer at 37-40 at the start of the third quarter, but Batangas regained their offense behind Oliver Arim, Levi Hernandez, Carlos Isit, and Cedrick Ablaza to establish a 57-44 advantage.

Batangas widened the lead further in the fourth quarter with a 15-3 scoring run en route to building the largest advantage at 77-49 on a layup by Darwin Lunor with less than a minute left.

“‘Yung first half namin parang wala kaming effort, kaya nung second half, nag-double effort lang kami,” Cruz said after the match.

“Kailangan lang naming i-sustain kung ano ‘yung ginagawa namin sa mga next games namin,” he added.

Vigil top-scored for Bacolod with 18 points, to go with six rebounds and four assists, while Jose Antiporda added 10 markers.

They dropped to a 1-19 win-loss record in the standings.

Bacolod City of Smiles, now on a 19-game losing skid, will next face the Biñan Tatak Gel Beast Motorcycle GameX at their homecourt at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna on August 8./ASC, WDJ

BATANGAS 79 — Cruz 10, Hernandez 9, Porter 8, Ablaza 8, Ochea 7, Baloria 7, Paniamogan 6, Arim 5, Dela Virgen 5, Isit 4, Ramirez 4, Lunor 4, Ambulodto 2, Oliva 0, Alarcon 0.

BACOLOD 54 — Vigil 18, Antiporda 10, Ludovice 8, Marilao 6, Bulawan 4, Peromingan 4, Ramos 2, Lopez 2, Pardo 0.

Quarterscores: 19-18, 38-32, 57-44, 79-54.