Marikina dominates BPBL elims, faces Makati in Final 4 (Sabong News)
Author
Manila Bulletin Sports
Date
MARCH 23 2022
Team Marikina kept flaunting its top form in the Batang Pilipino Basketball League, closing out with three victories over the weekend to sweep the elimination round of the inaugural 18-and-under tournament at the Palaruang Batang Lambak in Sta. Elena, Marikina City.
The hosts swept its first four games in the first weekend play of the pre-season event then crushed Pricerba MKT, 125-43, and QC-North RPBC, 84-63, and scored a walkover win over QC-South RPBC in afternoon play last Saturday to cap its domination of the eight-team tournament.
As top seed, Marikina will take on No. 4 Makati Pembo Pecas in the crossover semifinals slated this weekend while No. 2 Batang Cainta and third ranked Mandaluyong Megaworks will dispute the other finals berth in the community-based cage league put up by the BPBL, headed by league commissioner Ron Camara, to discover and develop talents from various sectors of community, including the the out-of-school youth.
Makati Pembo bucked its final game loss to Batang Cainta, 75-87, to claim the last Final Four berth with a 3-4 slate, nipping QC-North RPBC and QC-South RPBC in the tiebreak.
Batang Cainta edged Mandaluyong, 85-82, repulsed QC-South RPBC, 73-67, then smothered Pricerba-MKT, 82-48, to clinch No. 2 with a 6-1 card while Mandaluyong bounced back from its loss to Batang Cainta with a 79-68 victory over Pasig SA3 DW and a 79-65 win over Pricerba MKT to finish third at 5-2.
The semis winners will dispute the crown and the bragging rights as the BPBL pre-season champion on Sunday with the losers clashing for third place honors.
