DEFENDING champion Pampanga foiled Marikina's final rally, 68-66, on Tuesday to join the leaders in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
With the Shoemasters threatening, 63-65, following a 9-2 run, Chris Lalata split two free throws and Archie Concepcion converted both of his two to give Pampanga some breathing room with 17.8 seconds left.
Although Marikina's Joshua Roque buried a triple with 12.2 seconds left, Pampanga was able to run out the clock and climb to 2-0 in the company of Abra, Pangasinan, General Santos City, Quezon Province, Rizal and Zamboanga SIKAT.
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Jhaymo Eguilos led the Giant Lanterns with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists to earn Best Player honors, followed by John Lloyd Clemente with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and Concepcion with 11 points and 3 rebounds.
Renz Palma tallied 9 points plus 4 rebounds, Rence Alcoriza 7 points plus 3 rebounds, and Lalata 6 points plus a game-high 14 rebounds that gave Pampanga a 51-38 edge off the boards and more points inside the paint, 40-30.
Marikina dropped to 0-3 in the round-robin elimination round of the 30-team tournament despite the 16-point, 6-rebound effort of Johnnel Bauzon and the 15-point, 4-rebound, 3-assist output of Nem Dela Cruz.
Caloocan banked on the clutch hits of Jeff Manday to turn back Mindoro, 80-67, in the nightcap and improved to 1-1.
A 10-point spurt on two triples by Joseph Sedurifa and two baskets by Axel Inigo pushed Mindoro to within, 64-68, with 4 minutes and 34 seconds to go.
Manday, a prized find from Bacolod, however, nailed back-to-back triples to quash the rally and pull down the Tamaraws to 1-2.
The six-foot Manday went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and tallied 17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals for best player honors.
Rommel Calahat delivered 12 points and 6 rebounds and Joseph Manlangit 9 points plus 5 rebounds for the Batang Kankaloo.
Mindoro got 14 points and 7 rebounds from Sedurifa, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals from Ethan Galang and 9 points from Brandrey Sienes.
Batangas vented its ire on Imus and posted a coast-to-coast 90-68 victory in the opener.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena on Wednesday with games pitting Ilagan Isabela against Bulacan at 4 p.m., Abra against Pasay at 6 p.m., and host Binan against Pangasinan at 8 p.m.
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