Mateo controlled the offense and dealt laboriously with the Sparks stiff defense. Manalo went lucky in the inside earning most of his points from follow up shots to help Lynn’s preserve their lead all the way to the ball game.
Edwin Santos who showed a good start both in defense and offense backed Manalo up in the first quarter to put up an eight-point lead.
Mateo heated up from the outside bombarding the Sparks with five points including a three-pointer while Manalo and Reymark Castro added four of their total points to keep Lynn’s afloat in the second quarter.
A number of steals midway to the Sparks territory also paved the way for Mateo and Lynn’s hold the Sparks back although their play went lopsided in this period.
The Sparks had to mobilize their bench forces in the second middle of the second half bringing in two towering guys, Sahj Hossain and Jonathan Norita to put clamp on Lynn’s consistently aggressive offense.
However, the Sparks appeared rushing up a come-back attack as most attempts ended up empty, despite Hossain’s 13 of his 21 points in the third quarter.
Christian Devero scored six points to keep the lead in the third quarter.
Babauta controlled the ball as good as Mateo did allowing Tom Santos and Hossain to trim Lynn’s lead a bit in the fourth quarter.
But Mateo and Robert Naraja hit three-pointer apiece and both picked up fouls to pull Lynn’s away again with their two penalty shots apiece and secured their 67-57 victory.
The most valuable player award went to Mateo.
Scores:
Lynn’s BBQ 67 –M. Manalo 16, D. Mateo 16, R. Naraja 10, R. Castro 8, N. David 6, C. Devero 6, E. Santos 4.
Sparks 57 – S. Hossain 21, Z. Babauta 8, T. Santos 8, M. Manglona 5, E. Camacho 4, E. Manglona 4, I. Faisao 3, R. Babauta 2, J. Norita 1.
Quarterscores: 19-11, 34-23, 49-40, 67-57
