Rizal Xentromall stretched its strong showing with a 106-77 demolition of Sarangani on Wednesday at the MPBL 2025 Season inside Batangas City Coliseum.
Playing cohesively and systematically, the Golden Coolers pulled away, 90-65, midway of the fourth quarter and never wavered 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.
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, alongside three rebounds, three assists and two blocks to earn best player honors over Camson, who notched 16 points, 13 rebounds and three assists for Coach Ralph Rivera.
Other Golden Coolers who delivered were Robi Nayve with 12 points, all from beyond the arc, seven assists and four rebounds, and Alwyn Alday and Kobi Davis who scored 10 apiece.
With Nayve at the helm, 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 from Martin Gozum and 12 points and nine rebounds from Junjie Hallare.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena on Thursday 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.
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