The Marlins, who played without Paul Alvarez, blew several chances of stealing the game, enabling the Lakers to clinch the victory, their seventh in 10 games.
The win thus boosted the Lakers’ playoff bid in the Northern Conference.
The Marlins bowed out with their 11th loss in 14 games.
Chris Clay, who fired a season-high 51-point output in Laguna’s 110-83 rout of Nueva Ecija over the weekend, sizzled anew with 32 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter as he teamed up with Oscar Simon in keeping the Lakers abreast with the Marlins.
However, Alwyn Flores came through with clutch baskets to give the Marlins a 107-104 lead, 1:18 left in the contest. But Laguna’s Mike Manigo, formerly of TPG Davao, banged in a basket and came up with a putback off Jeff Flowers’ miss with 20.8 seconds as the Lakers wrested a 108-107 lead.
Meanwhile, Negros made clutch foul shots down the stretch as it repeated over defending champion Andoks San Juan, 102-99, for its eighth win in 10 games. — Joey Villar