Davao City – Blackwater Bossing stormed back from 10 points down behind the clutch brilliance of RK Ilagan, outlasting NLEX, 95-90, to seize the top spot in the 40th Kadayawan Invitational Friday night at the University of Southeastern Philippines.
With the game on the line, Ilagan delivered in superstar fashion. The fiery guard drilled back-to-back triples in the fourth quarter to ignite the comeback and then scored five of the Bossing’s final eight points to ice the win. He finished with 17 points, highlighted by four long bombs, while Troy Malilin paced Blackwater with 19 markers, 13 of them in the first half.
The Bossing now sit on top of the four-team tournament at 2-0 after also dispatching Phoenix, 94-81, in the opener. They now eye a clean sweep of the eliminations against Converge on Saturday for a sure trip to the finals.
Meanwhile, Converge clawed their way into the win column earlier in the night, escaping Phoenix in a wild finish, 100-98. Justin Baltazar hit the go-ahead one-hander with just 14 seconds left to break a deadlock, before Phoenix’s Tyler Tio missed two game-saving attempts in the closing seconds.
Justin Arana starred for the FiberXers with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds, bouncing back strong after their opening loss to NLEX. Converge improved to 1-1, while the Fuel Masters fell to 0-2, setting up a do-or-die clash against the Road Warriors.
