THE Pasay Voyagers found the shortcut in the third quarter and cruised past the Davao Occidental Tigers, 72-64, on Monday in Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Ahead by just four points, the Voyagers, sparked by Felipe Chavez and Warren Bonifacio, clustered 14 points to pull away to stay, 48-30, with 3 minutes and 27 seconds to go in that period.
Cyrus Tabi took over in the second half and posted 17 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals to push Pasay to its 10th win against 7 losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Chavez ended up with 16 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, while Bonifacio notched 11 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for the Voyagers, who converted 17 of 18 free throws for a lofty 94.4 percent.
Davao, which tumbled to 5-8, drew 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists from Keith Agovida, 11 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists from Jeff Comia, and 11 points plus 4 rebounds from University of Mindanao-Digos College’s Jansher Salubre.
Other games saw the Gensan Warriors and the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo rout separate opponents in coast-to-coast fashion.
GenSan flaunted its power with a 99-45 drubbing of Manila Batang Quiapo in the opener, while Caloocan followed suit with a 93-47 thumping of Marikina.
All but one of the 15 Warriors fielded scored as they led throughout and as far as 35-89 in notching their fourth straight win and climbing to 10-6.
Mark Cruz spearheaded GenSan’s assault with 27 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds, Marwin Dionisio with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Nico Elorde with 10 points.
CJ Gonzales, a 6-foot-4 homegrown, contributed 8 points and 16 rebounds, while Gamaliel Evangelista Jr., a 6-foot-5 frontliner from the University of Santo Tomas, added 8 points and 12 rebounds as GenSan dominated the boards, 73-35.
Manila, with only Richard Albo stricking back with 12 points and 7 rebounds, absorbed its 14th straight defeat after an initial victory and is virtually out of contention for a playoff berth.
Powered by homegrown Joseph Manlangit and Rommel Calahat, Caloocan stormed ahead, 34-14, after the first quarter and never wavered to improve to 11-5.
Brian Enriquez and Jeff Manday joined the scoring fray as the Batang Kankaloo pulled down the Shoemasters to 3-13.
Manlangit wound up with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Enriquez 15 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Manday 13 points and 2 assists, and Calahat 12 points and 2 assists.
Marikina skidded to 3-13 as Karl Penano ended up top scorer with 10 points.
The MPBL returns to the Batangas City Coliseum on Tuesday with games pitting Sarangani against Bacolod at 4 p.m., Ilagan Isbaela against Mindoro at 6 p.m., and Batangas against Valenzuela at 8 p.m.
