MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am DJ Mitchell drilled in a deep corner triple while Carl Bryan Cruz canned two charities in the last 39 seconds to lift Manila past debuting Caloocan, 69-66, last Tuesday in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the San Andres Sports Complex.
In other thrillers, Davao Occidental nipped Bacolod, 72-71, while Quezon Province tripped Pangasinan, 72-68.
Manila SV Batang Sampaloc trailed most of the way, the last at 64-66 with 39 seconds left when Caloocan Batang Kankaloo bunched six points.
A pressure-free Mitchell, however, responded to the challenge with that go-ahead jumper before Cruz sealed Manila’s third win in four games with the free throws with only 1.6 seconds to go.