MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Stars gave the Muntinlupa Cagers a rude welcome in the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season presented by Xtreme on Monday, posting a runaway 103-74 victory at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Striking from long range, Manila pounded Muntinlupa till the end to tally only its second win in seven games in the single round-robin elimination round of the 22-team, two-division tournament.
Joaquin Mariano made 5 of 8 triple tries while Marvin Lee made 4 of 7 as Manila went 14 of 29 for a high 42 points from the rainbow territory that spelled the difference in the game dominated by the Stars.
The Cagers, still searching for cohesion being the last team to see action this season, could only bury six out of 22 triple attempts for 18 points.
Mariano wound up with a game-high 17 points, followed by Marvin Lee with 14, Kobe Monje with 12 and veteran Gary David with 10.
Muntinlupa got 14 points plus eight rebounds from Harold Arboleda, 13 points and seven rebounds from Domark Matillano and 10 points from Angel Mendoza.
Showing balanced scoring, Manila also drew 9 points each from Joshua Fontanilla, homegrown Mark Yu and Allent Bryant Liwag to get back on track after back-to-back losses.