MPBL: Pasay on a roll; Valenzuela, Caloocan win

MANILA, Philippines — The Pasay Voyagers continued their upward course with a 107-75 drubbing of Manila Batang Quiapo on Tuesday in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.

Pounding the boards, the Voyagers run and gun from the start to notch their third straight win after losing their first game in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.

Powered by Laurenz Victoria, former star of the Mapua Cardinals, the Voyagers pulled away, 77-41, in the third quarter and were never threatened by the Batang Quiapo, who dropped their third straight after a successful debut.

Victoria tallied 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal to emerge as the Best Player. Warren Bonifacio provided support with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, and so did Cyrus Tabi with 10 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Homegrown Damian Lasco contributed 11 points, followed by Joel Soriano with eight points and eight rebounds.

Exploiting their huge 60-31 edge in rebounds, the Voyagers poured 62 points in the paint, more than double Batang Quiapo's 30 points.

Pasay, which trailed pacesetter Nueva Ecija (4-0), Pampanga (3-0), Quezon Province (3-0) and Rizal Xentromall (3-0), also shot better from afar with 10 triples against Manila's six.

Manila drew 21 points and three rebounds from Richard Albo, and 17 points plus four rebounds from Algin Andaya, but no other Batang Quiapo finished with twin digits.

The Valenzuela Classics wasted a big lead and settled for an 85-82 victory over the Marikina Shoemasters in the second game.

Ahead by as far as 62-34 halfway through the third quarter, Valenzuela allowed Marikina to threaten at 80-83 with 21.6 seconds to go before Kobe Monje canned two charities to hand the Classics a 2-2 card.

Louie Vigil led Valenzuela with 18 points, four assists and three rebounds, followed by Monje with 14 points and seven rebounds; Jan Fomentgo ith 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals; Kyle Drexler Neypes with 11 points plus 10 rebounds; and Jonathan Ralf Gesalem with 11 points.

Marikina absorbed its fourth straight defeat despite Michael Angelo Macion's 23-point, five-rebound effort; Carlo Velasco's 11 points and two rebounds; homegrown Jethro Escoto's 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals; and Karlo Penano's 10 points plus six rebounds.

Caloocan Batang Kankaloo bunched 10 points starting the fourth quarter and proceeded to trounce the Bataan Risers, 84-71, in the opener.

As a result, the Batang Kankaloo pulled away, 69-51, en route to their second straight win after an initial loss.

Chris Bitoon presided over that decisive spurt with a triple and capped it with a drive in the last 7:54.

Dom Vera broke the ice for Bataan with a triple in the final 7:41, but the Caloocan juggernaut was hard to stop by then.

Bitoon wound up with 14 points, seven assists and two rebounds but yielded Best Player honors to homegrown Paul Hendrix Casin, who posted 14 points and seven rebounds.

Rommel Calahat and Joco Tayongtong chipped in nine points each for Batang Kankaloo, who ruled the boards mainly through Antonio Bonsubre's nine rebounds to go with seven points.

Bataan, which skidded to 1-3, got 12 points and six rebounds from Lorenz Capulong; 12 points from Hubert Cani; eight points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks from Jamil Gabawan; and eight points, four assists and three rebounds from Robbi Darang.

The MPBL returns to the Batangas City Coliseum on Wednesday with games pitting Rizal against Sarangani at 4 p.m., Quezon City against Imus at 6 p.m., and Batangas against Basilan at 8 p.m.