Patriots wax hot, outgun Royals

Parañaque’s outside gunners clicked in the fourth quarter as the Patriots subdued the Iloilo United Royals, 72-66, and shared the lead in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season late Thursday at the Caloocan Sports Complex.

Getting a triple each from JR Villanueva, JP Sarao, Keith Pido and Jielo Razon, the Patriots surged ahead, 70-69, with only 2:17 left en route to their third win in as many starts in the elimination round of the country’s top regional league.

Villanueva finished with 19 points, including seven in the last 10 minutes, followed by Pido with 17 as Parañaque matched the 3-0 slates of Zamboanga and Negros.

Razon contributed 10 points plus seven boards, while veteran Mark Yee wound up with nine points plus a game-high 13 rebounds.

Sarao came up with nine points plus four rebounds while Philip Manalang ably orchestrated the Patriots’ plays with 10 assists to go with six rebounds and three points.

Iloilo staged its final rally behind CJ Cansino and Mark Nonoy in the last 2 minutes, but could only make the gap closer.

Cansino tallied 21 points, eight rebounds and two steals, while Nonoy posted 21 points, four steals and two rebounds for Iloilo, which fell to 1-2.

Earlier, AC Soberano powered debuting San Juan to a 101-73 rout of Marikina.

The former National Collegiate Athletic Association three-point king started San Juan’s fourth-quarter blitz with a halfcourt heave then drilled in four more triples in a 16-point run that pushed the Knights beyond reach of the Shoemasters, 94-61, with only 5:42 seconds to go.