Rizal dumps Sarangani
RIZAL Xentromall sustained its hot streak with a 106-77 dumping of Sarangani on Wednesday in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.
The Golden Coolers pulled away, 90-65, midway through the fourth quarter to notch their fourth straight win and share the lead with the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Imus Braderhood rallied to beat Quezon City, 69-62, in the second game, while Batangas City Tanduay rebounded with a coast-to-coast 74-68 victory over Basilan Viva in the nightcap.
Burying the memory of a harrowing 86-87 loss to Rizal on March 21, Batangas unloaded a 12-point salvo to break away at 14-2, then deflected Basilan’s repeated rallies to level its slate at 2-2.
Levi Hernandez, who sparked that early spurt, went on to tally 16 points and 3 rebounds and emerge the best player in the game that saw the Rhum Masters clobber dominate the boards, 53-37, en route to 19 second chance points against none for the Portmasters, who slumped to 1-3.
Mark Niel Cruz posted 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists; MJ Dela Virgen 10 points and 3 assists; Jong Baloria 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists; and Cedrick Ablaza 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Basilan, which came to within 73-66 on a six-point run, got 16 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds from veteran Alex Cabagnot, 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists from Emman Calo, 11 points plus 10 rebounds from Adi Santos, and 7 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds from Enzo Navarro.
Trailing most of the way, Imus finally tied the count at 54, then bunched nine points to shatter the last deadlock at 56 and raise its card to 3-2.
Jhon Jerick Caspe posted 22 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 blocks for Imus, while Kint Ariar complemented his effort with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
Quezon City fell to 2-2 as only Jonjon Gabriel struck back with 11 points and 3 rebounds.
Powered by Marco Balagtas and Eric Camson, Rizal won the board battle, 48-40, and converted this to a decisive 26-5 edge in second-chance points.
Balagtas chalked 21 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks to earn best player honors over Camson, who notched 16 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists for Coach Ralph Rivera.
Other Golden Coolers who delivered were Robin Julian Nayve with 12 points, all from beyond the arc, 7 assists and 4 rebounds, Alwyn Alday with 10 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds, and Kobi Davis with 10 points and 4 assists.
The Golden Coolers nailed 15 triples against only two for the Sarangani Grippers, who tumbled to the cellar with a 0-4 record.
Sarangani got 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists from Martin Gozum, 12 points and 9 rebounds from Junjie Hallare, and 11 points from Arvie Bringas and Larce Christian Sunga.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena with games pitting Zamboanga against Bulacan at 4 p.m., San Juan against Mindoro at 6 p.m., and Binan against Ilagan Isabela at 8 p.m.
