DEFENDING champion Davao Occidental-Cocolife held off a furious fourth quarter fightback by Quezon City to carve out an 81-79 decision on Saturday night for its sixth straight win and the solo lead in the Manila Bankers Life-Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup at the San Andres Gym in Manila.
Beacons forward Raffy Octobre could not complete what could have been a heroic effort in the endgame. He missed a three-point try before Jam Jamon also muffed a jumper at the buzzer.
Octobre boomed in a triple that shoved Quezon City to within 79-81 with 15 seconds to go.
Former Philippine Basketball Association player John Wilson had 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists for the Tigers, while Marco Balagtas chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.
Billy Robles had 10 points and five rebounds for Davao Occidental, which remained untouchable with a 6-0 record in the league presented by Winzir and co-presented by SCD Cosmetics and Dumper party-list, and supported by NET 25, Adcon, Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don Benitos and Finn Cotton.
The Tigers pulled off a similarly hard-earned 78-76 triumph over Nueva Ecija last December 17.
The Beacons absorbed their third loss in a row, counting a 59-83 defeat to the Pampanga G Lanterns last December 29 for a 1-4 slate.
Jamon paced Quezon City with 24 points and five rebounds, while Germy Mahinay and Aaron Jeruta got 14 and 11 points, respectively.
In other games, Pampanga Royce mangled the Slashers, 82-61, for a 5-0 card, while Manila improved to 4-3 following an 89-79 victory over Cagayan de Oro-PSP.