MPBL: Pangasinan nails third straight win; Pasig, Valenzuela prevail

MANILA, Philippines — The Pangasinan Heatwaves sustained their recovery with a 66-59 victory over the Muntinlupa Cagers on Monday in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Paco Arena in Manila.

Pangasinan pulled away, 64-46, midway of the fourth quarter and cruised to its third straight win for an 8-4 slate in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.

Jorey Napoles led Pangasinan's assault with 14 points and eight rebounds; followed by Harvey Pagsanjan with 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals; and Ian Melencio with 10 points plus two rebounds.

With Lervin Flores snagging 10 rebounds, Pangasinan ruled the boards, 52-43, and parlayed this into 42 points in the paint against only 20 for Muntinlupa.

The Cagers saw their four-game run broken and dropped to 10-3 despite Dom Matillano's 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists; and Mart James Barrera's 13 points and two steals.

Pasig crawled out of a deep hole to trip Quezon City Galeries Taipan, 85-79, in the nightcap.

Trailing 65-75 with four minutes and 32 seconds left, Pasig countered behind veteran Chito Jaime and Warlo James Batac to knot the count at 77.

Jerome Santos scored on a layup to put Quezon City back on top, 79-77, but Robbie Manalang drilled in a triple and Jaime came up with two straight free throw splits, stole the inbound, and canned a buzzer-beating triple to hand Pasig a 5-6 card

Quezon City greeted the fourth quarter with a 14-point spurt, capped by Ry Ajier De La Rosa's back-to-back triples, and pulled away, 71-57, only to crumble and tumble to 3-11.

Jaime wound up with 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists; Batac with 17 points, seven assists, four steals and two rebounds; Jerome Garcia 11 points and two rebounds; Manalang 10 points, four assists and two rebounds; and Rocky Acidre 10 points.

The Taipans got 17 points, three rebounds and two assists from Nino Ibanez; 13 points and four rebounds from De La Rosa; and 11 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals from Vincent Cunanan.

Valenzuela City Magic leaned on Jan Formento's clutch hits to nip Bacolod, 86-82, in the opener of the tripleheader.

Formento canned two free throws with 46.7 seconds left and drilled in a jumper with five seconds to go as Valenzuela snapped a six-game slide and improved to 4-10.

The crack guard out of St. Clare College posted 24 points, spiked by four triples, three rebounds and four assists to earn Best Player honors over Kyle Drexler Neypes with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists; and Kobe Monje with 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Other Magic who shone were JR Alabanza with nine points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks; and Jonathan Ralf Gesalem with nine points, all from triples.

The Bacolod Tubo Slashers absorbed their fifth straight defeat and dropped to 2-10 despite Chester Saldua's 20-point, six-assist effort; Jaycee Sam Adjei's 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists; and homegrown Miles Canal's 10 points plus nine rebounds.

Outrebounded by the Magic, 51-42, the Tubo Slashers were further hampered by their inability to convert charities, making only 9-of-23 tries. In contrast, the Magic made 19 of 24 freebies.

The MPBL goes to the Alonte Sports Arena on Tuesday with games pitting Bulacan against Davao at 4 p.m., Rizal against Gensan at 6 p.m., and host Binan against Paranaque at 8 p.m.