ZAMBOANGA SiKat overpowered Davao Occidental, 88-66, on Thursday to rev up its drive in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season ladder at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Zamboanga notched its seventh straight win and climbed to 12-2 in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Nueva Ecija paces the chase for playoff berths with a 12-0 slate, followed by Abra (11-1) and San Juan (11-1).
Reigning back-to-back titlist Pampanga halted its slide with an 86-78 victory over Pasay in the nightcap of a triple-bill, while
Caloocan found its rhythm in the second half and trounced Quezon City Galeries Taipan, 84-71, in the opener.
In control throughout the second half, the Giant Lanterns pulled away at 73-53 and fended off the Voyagers’ late rally to recover from back-to-back losses and improve to 9-3.
Top Gun Archie Concepcion posted 18 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, while big man Larry Muyang tallied 17 points and 6 rebounds for Pampanga.
Pasay fell to 8-6 despite Laurenz Victoria’s 24 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds, Warren Bonifacio’s 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Cyrus Tabi’s 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Davao suffered its fifth straight loss and dropped to 3-7, putting to waste Jeff Comia’s 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Justin Alano’s 16 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, and Valandre Chauca’s 12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
Trailing, 37-38, at halftime, the Batang Kankaloo banked on Rommel Calahat to seize control after the third quarter and proceed to their fourth straight win for a 10-4 card.
Calahat poured 18 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter, eclipsing the entire Taipans’ 11 points and towing the Batang Kankaloo to a 66-49 spread.
The 6-foot-2 Calahat, former star of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, added 6 rebounds and 3 assists to earn best player honors over Jeff Manday, who fired 17 points, laced by four triples, and grabbed 5 rebounds; and Paul Sanga with 11 points and 2 rebounds.
Quezon City tasted its third straight defeat and dropped to 3-10. The Taipans drew 12 points on four triples and 3 assists from Ry Aijer De La Rosa and 11 points plus 6 rebounds from Jason Strait.
The Batang Kankaloo controlled the boards, 44-27, and translated this to more second-chance points, 17-9, in the game that saw 19 lead changes and 6 deadlocks.
The MPBL goes to the University of Bangued Gymnasium on Saturday with games pitting Imus against Marikina at 4 p.m., Nueva Ecija against Batangas at 6 p.m., and host Abra against Quezon Province at 8 p.m.
