MANILA, Philippines -- Marikina held off Laguna-Krah Asia, 79-73, for its first win in the Chooks-to-Go Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational powered by TM at the Mall of Asia Arena, Monday night.

Kyle Tolentino proved to be a revelation for Marikina, unleashing 24 big points laced with nine rebounds and three assists to help his side fend off the gritty Heroes in the end game.

Trailing by as many as 11 points in the final frame, MJ Dela Virgen and Edgar Charcos drained back-to-back triples to slice Marikina's lead to just 4, 77-73, with 1:23 remaining

Ato Ular then secured a putback off a Joshua Gonzales miss to seal the game for Marikina.

Ular collected 16 points and 12 rebounds for Marikina while Raynel Casajeros added eight markers and four boards.

With the win, Marikina (1-0) forged a tie with Basilan (1-0) in Pool B. Meanwhile, Bicol is currently at 1-1 while Laguna is at 0-2.

Bacoor also entered the win column with a 72-50 triumph over Caloocan.

Jerome Garcia, who went scoreless in four minutes of play in the loss to Bacolod last Saturday, poured 19 of his 26 big points in the first half.

The former Emilio Aguinaldo College star, who also drilled six 3-pointers, was a point away from tying the tournament-high 27 points set by Orlan Wamar last Thursday.

With Garcia in the lead, the Strikers wasted no time in torching the Excellence and mounted a huge 19-point, 40-21 advantage in the second quarter. Caloocan only had five points in the second quarter.

The lead ballooned to as big as 35 points in the fourth, 65-30, off of a Salvador Galit jumper with 7:23 left in the game.

Meanwhile, San Juan improved to 2-0 after a comfortable 91-72 win against Sarangani.

Jhonard Clarito and Jason Melano took control of the paint for the Knights. The former had 14 points and 10 rebounds while the latter finished with 14 markers as well to go along with nine rebounds.

San Juan pulled away as early as the third quarter, putting up a 10-point cushion, 62-52, to enter the fourth frame.

From there, the Knights turned the game to a one-sided affair with Arvin Gamboa chalking up San Juan's biggest advantage at 19 points, 87-68, with 1:58 remaining in the match.

In another game, Letran star Fran Yu powered Pasig-Sta. Lucia to a lopsided 90-69 victory against Iloilo to open its campaign.

The Realtors had a slow start in the game but managed to get things going in the second half where they built a 10-point lead after the third quarter.

Yu kick-started a 19-6 run in the fourth frame to give the Realtors their biggest lead of the ball game at 23, 88-65, with four minutes remaining in the match.

Meanwhile, Manila bounced back with an 89-59 demolition of EMKAI-Rizal Xentro Mall.

Dan Sara and special guest player Brent Paraiso came off firing in the opening frame, scoring eight points each in the opening frame to give Manila a 24-11 lead. Sara continued his scoring spree in the second frame as Manila ended the half with an imposing 47-24 lead.

The lead of Manila grew to as high as 34 points, 88-54, late in the game.