Dennison lifts Navotas past Rizal; Manila rips Caloocan

RON DENNISON showed to everyone that he’s pro ready and he proved it when he came up with a big play in Navotas’ 87-81 overtime win over host Rizal in the MPBL Datu Cup late Tuesday night.

Dennison, the former star player of the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, took a calculating risk in the last five seconds of regulation. He bounced the ball off a Rizal defender with his back to the inbounder and got away with a lay up to tie the game at 73-all and sent the game to overtime.

In the extra period, the Clutch showed their poise as they opened up with an 11-0 run, seven of those points came from Kyle Neypes, to completely take the fight out of the Xentro Mall-backed Crusaders.

The win was the fourth in eight games for the Clutch, who bucked the absence of two key players — Rey Publico and Levy Hernandez.

Publico, the team’s main man at the middle, tore his ACL during Game 5 of the PBA D-League finals and will be out the rest of the season. Hernandez, on the other hand, served a one game suspension.

It was the seventh loss in nine games for the Crusaders.

Earlier, Manila breezed past Caloocan, 95-68, as Aris Dionisio posted another double-double performance while two other players from the Robust Energy Capsule-supported Stars also ended up in double figures.

Dionisio, the versatile, athletic forward from PSBA, finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for the Stars, who improved their record to 7-1. The loss dropped the Longrich-sponsored Supremos to 2-6. —