BREN GUIAO Stadium – The Batangas City Embassy Chill defeats Coolers on an icy but heated match last September 12, 2022. At the Bren Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga, on Monday, the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season Presented by Xtreme, Batangas City Embassy Chill prevailed 68-65 over Rizal Xentromall. 

By alternating between Cedric Ablaza, John Ray Villanueva, Darwin Lunor, Dawn Ochea, and Levi Hernandez late in the second half, the Batangas Athletics sprinted out to a 44-15 lead. 

Nevertheless, the Rizal Golden Coolers did not give up easily and steadily ate away at the advantage left by Laurenz Victoria, Troy Mallillin, Denniel Aguirre, and Jordan Rios.

M. Cruz of Batangas starts it off with a jump ball haggle with Mallinlin – Hg of Rizal, and first point was a beautiful driving lay up by Mallinlin giving Rizal 2 points, this responded to by Batangas’ Hernandes scoring a 3 from beyond the arch.

Despite the initial score taken by the Coolers, the 1^st quarter ends with a massive lead from a barrage of shots at different spots from Batangas. 1^st quarter score board blared a massive 17 point lead, 25 – 8 in favor of Batangas City Embassy Chill.

At the start of the second quarter, Gob Ii – Hg is subbed out by Rizal, J. Serrano is in. The quarter starts with a bloody lead for Rizal to catch up to. The match proved to be very difficult for the Rizal Golden coolers as they attempted to close the huge gap that had been created early on. Multiple long shots barraged by threes and twos from the Golden Coolers, but most of the shots fail to make the count leaving the gap still huge.

The first half of the tilted match was capped by a nicely done lay up by D. Aguirre – Hg of Rizal, taking the scoreboard to a still massive lead of 22 points, 44 – 22 in favor of Batangas.

When Rizal made one more effort, Batangas was still comfortably up, 66-51, with 4:59 left to play. 

The Golden Coolers were in danger at 63-66 with 1:22 left thanks to five-point performances from Victoria, Mallillin, and Rios. 

After Ablaza split the charities, Mallillin arrived to bring the score to 67-65. 

Jeckster Apinan added another pair of split free throws to give Batangas its 15th victory in 16 starts, while bringing Rizal’s record in the single round-robin elimination stage of the 22-team competition to 10-6.

Ablaza finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Levi Hernandez and Juneric Baloria both finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Despite only managing seven points, Apinan grabbed 14 rebounds, had five assists, two steals, and five turnovers. 

Victoria contributed 16 points and 7 rebounds for Rizal, and Mallillin contributed 14 points and 9 rebounds.

The fourth and final quarter started at 58 – 39, still in favor of Batangas. Rizal’s Bienes attempts a three but misses.

With less than 5 minutes remaining in the game, Ablaza drove the lead up higher with a driving lay up, for 2 points, getting the Embassy Chill at a chilling 15 point lead.

Much is to be done if Rizal wants to end the game with a win, and so they attempt much more of those 3 pointers as expected. Rizal’s L. Victoria asserts perimeter control, shelling out 3 consecutive long shots: two 3 pointers and one long shot for 2. But to no avail the lead has just become so big to be easily reversed.

The match ended pretty close at 68 – 65, when Ex PBA player J. Apinan made one out of two free throws as the last score of the game.

Rizal top scorers are as follows: : L. Victoria did not disappoint with his consistent long shots gave him 16 points in the match which is the highest for the game, followed by T. Mallillin – Hg with 14, J Rios with 8, D. Aguirre with 7, and E. Charcos with 6 points.

The winning Batangas City Embassy Chill was led in points by C. Ablaza scoring 13 points, Ex PBA player L. Hernandez 11, Ex PBA player J. Baloria 10, Ex PBA player J. Apinan 7, and J Villanueva with 6 points.

J. Apinan dominated the rebound section with a whopping 14 rebounds for the game, followed by Batangas teammate C. Ablaza with 11 rebounds. Their counterparts on the Rizal side are T. Mallilin with 9 rebounds, and L. Victoria with 9.

Despite close stats, leads in fast break points and second chance points, Rizal was just bested by the ravaging Batangas City boys. Not a bad end nonetheless as the huge gap in the scores were closed at 3 by the end of the final quarter.

Scores at the end of the game

Batangas City Embassy Chill with 68 points for the win.

Rizal Golden Coolers with 65.

Scores per quarter

25-8, 44-22, 58-39, 68-65 in favor of and for the win by Batangas City Embassy Chill.