Ana blazes past Osaka

Ana Freezers team owner Rudy Mendoza went four-of-four as head coach as the team toppled Osaka Iridology behind a fine defensive game, 79-72, yesterday to firm up its hold of solo second place in the PBL Chairman’s Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Ronald Tubid scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the final quarter as he combined with Dondon Mendoza and Paul Artadi in a decisive 15-0 Ana blast to turn back their rivals and hiked their win-loss record to 5-1.

The Iridologists tumbled to their fourth straight setback.

But Shark remained unbeaten as it walloped Ateneo-Pioneer, 81-58, in the other game for its sixth straight victory.

The Power Boosters rode on the exploits of Chester Tolomia and Gilbert Malabanan, who tossed in 21 and 15 points, respectively to power the team to the runaway win.

Shark pulled away behind a 10-0 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter and the Power Boosters were never threatened the rest of the way.

Ateneo-Pioneer took its third loss in a row.

In PYBL caging, defending champion Boysen-MLQU and University of Assumption beat their respective rivals to open their respective bids on a bright note in the first Crystal Spring PYBL Title Cup, also at the Makati Coliseum.

Boysen-MLQU held Whiz Super Oil to just seven points in the last eight minutes and romped away with a 64-51 victory, while Assumption repulsed Konica-Gringo Express, 70-58. — With report from Sandro Paredes