Patriarca Drops 43 Frustrates Defending Champs!

Kris "Topei" Patriarca single handedly saved his team Manila Motors/CMR from an upset scoring 43 huge points on the back of 8 treys. But what makes this even more impressive is he only played a few minutes in the first quarter. Not even suiting up at the start of the game, his team was probably expecting another easy game after their first round dominance of Dimond.

But for the rest of the 3 quarters he scored half or more than half of his team's output in each of the 10 minute segments. CMR would lead by as many as 14 points and Dimond would catch up, coincidentally when Patriarca would take a breather. Going into the last quarter, Manila Motors thought they had the game wrapped up until Perry Salas; Mike Becker and Hebron Canlas combined for 10 consecutive points. Game was tied with only 1:10 left in the last quarter. Kenneth Eldialde scored crucial points to keep the Roofmakers at bay. But it was Patriarca's free throws in the dying seconds that put Manila Motors beyond reach game ending 109 -105.

We were told that Kris has been bragging on his facebook page that he is this year's MVP. After last week's performance he certainly has earned the right to say that. We believe he has the season MVP award in his pocket. Unless of course other contenders Ferdie Manuel and Dennis Lorenzo from JR Panel and Hebron Canlas from Dimond do something spectacular this weekend. 

In the other game, Prexy Normal Latosa was heard saying "Yan na lang ba ang kaya niyo?" against JR Panel. The game was never close though, with JR Panel controlling the game right from the start. With the result of the game never in doubt, the Panel Beaters used this game to experiment with combinations and practiced their defense. Final score was 96-81. With this win and the loss of Dimond/Ampelite, this makes the battle for the second finals berth even closer. Manila Motors has practically secured their place in the finals barring any monumental collapse in the semis.

The last 4 games of the elimination round this weekend will play a crucial part in determining who will go all the way to the finals!