Marlins nail first victory on Bong’s heroics

STA. CRUZ, Laguna – Bong Alvarez delivered the goods for the Socsargen Marlins yesterday as they finally barged into the win column with a 101-85 drubbing of the Davao Eagles in the Metropolitan Basketball Association First Phase at the San Luis Sports Complex here.

Repeatedly piercing the loose Eagles defense, Alvarez fired a game-high 32 points, grabbed seven rebounds, issued seven assists and had four steals to lead the Marlins to their first win after six straight losses.

"I’m very happy. It’s as if we’ve won the championship," said Alvarez, who shot 15-of-28 from the field in 40 minutes of action.

Teaming up with Aldrich Reyes, Alvarez gave the Marlins a couple of 19-point spreads, the last at 86-67, early in the fourth quarter.

Bong Marata, however, sparked a brief rally that saw the Eagles, who fell to a similar 1-6 card, threaten at 88-80.

But Alvarez couldn’t be denied, scoring on two successive drives to douse cold water on the Davao onslaught.

The Marlins then tightened their defense in the last two minutes, silencing their opponents while coming through with seven points to win with plenty to spare.

Socsargen’s victory came as a surprise as Davao went into the game fresh from a stunning 105-101 win over the Negros Slashers last Friday.

Davao badly missed the services of starting forward Romy dela Rosa, who complained of neck pains and had to be brought to the hospital before the game started.

FedEx Laguna and Negros were still playing each other as of presstime.