PCBL: Sta. Lucia dumps Foton; Euro-Med halts Jumbo’s streak

MANILA, Philippines – Sta. Lucia Realty vented its ire on Foton, 71-55, to keep its twice-to-beat hopes alive in the PCBL Founders Cup even as Euro-Med continued its rise when it halted Jumbo Plastic’s winning streak on Thursday night at the JCSGO Gym.

The Realtors turned to their solid defensive game in the second quarter, holding their rivals to only nine points, to break the game wide open. Only three players were able to score for the Toplander during that stretch as the Realtors unloaded 22 points, allowing them to take control of the game from there on, 38-23, at the half.

Leading the way for Sta. Lucia was Jhaps Bautista, who finished with 17 points followed by Mark Montilla, who had 11. The Realtors opened up the third period with an 11-0 run to establish their biggest lead of the game, 49-23, on a basket by Bautista with 5:18 left and they never looked back from there.

It was the fourth win in seven games for the Realtors, who now improved their win-loss record to 4-3, to forge a three-way with Cagayan Valley and Euro-Med at third to fifth places in the team standing of this event supported by Spalding, Ambucore, Accel and Aquabest.