BACOLOD Bingo Plus worked in cohesion to offset the absence of a key player and open its stint in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League fourth season with a 67-57 victory over Imus Bandera last Monday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Jhan McHale Nermal fired 17 points and snared eight rebounds to lead 11 other Bacolodnons who managed to score in the game they took control after a 10-point run, 48-43, closing the third quarter.
Imus led 40-30 midway in the third, before collapsing to its second straight defeat.
The 6-foot-3 Nermal, a local star from STI-West Negros, was supported by Jeramer Cabanag (12 points), Edrian Lao (9 points) and Aaron Jeruta (7 points) as Bacolod showed its worth sans veteran Mark Yee, who did not play.
With Coach Alex Angeles distributing playing time, Bacolod’s bench outscored that of Imus 54-36 and led by as many as 14 points 63-49 early in the fourth quarter.
Imus Coach Manny Torralba got 18 points from homegrown star Ian Melencio but no other Bandera could score in twin digits.
Earlier, Valenzuela City rebounded from an opening day loss with a 79-67 conquest of Mindoro.
