THE Pasay Voyagers continued their upward course with a 107-75 drubbing of Manila Batang Quiapo on Tuesday in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Pounding the boards, the Voyagers attacked relentlessly from the start to notch their third straight win after losing their first game in the round-robin elimination phase among 30 teams.
Powered by Laurenz Victoria, former star of the Mapua Cardinals, the Voyagers pulled away, 77-41, in the third quarter and were never threatened by the Batang Quiapo, who dropped their third straight after a successful debut.
Victoria shows way
Victoria tallied 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal to emerge as the best player. Warren Bonifacio provided support with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and so did Cyrus Tabi with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Homegrown Damian Lasco contributed 11 points, followed by Joel Soriano with 8 points and 8 rebounds.
Exploiting their huge 60-31 edge in rebounds, the Voyagers poured 62 points in the paint, more than double Batang Quiapo's 30 points.
Pasay, which trailed pacesetter Nueva Ecija (4-0), Pampanga (3-0), Quezon Province (3-0) and Rizal Xentromall (3-0), also shot better from afar with 10 triples against Manila's six.
Manila drew 21 points and 3 rebounds from Richard Albo and 17 points plus 4 rebounds from Algin Andaya, but no other Batang Quiapo finished in double digits.
The Valenzuela Classics wasted a big lead and settled for an 85-82 victory over the Marikina Shoemasters in the second game.
Ahead by as far as 62-34 halfway through the third quarter, Valenzuela allowed Marikina to threaten at 80-83 with 21.6 seconds to go before Kobe Monje canned two charities to hand the Classics a 2-2 card.
Louie Vigil led Valenzuela with 18 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, followed by Monje with 14 points and 7 rebounds, Jan Fomentgo ith 13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, Kyle Drexler Neypes with 11 points plus 10 rebounds, and Jonathan Ralf Gesalem with 11 points.
Marikina absorbed its fourth straight defeat despite Michael Angelo Macion's 23-point, 5-rebound effort, Carlo Velasco's 11 points and 2 rebounds, homegrown Jethro Escoto's 10 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, and Karlo Penano's 10 points plus 6 rebounds.
Caloocan Batang Kankaloo bunched 10 points starting the fourth quarter and proceeded to trounce the Bataan Risers, 84-71, in the opener.
The MPBL returns to the Batangas City Coliseum on Wednesday with games pitting Rizal against Sarangani at 4 p.m., Quezon City against Imus at 6 p.m., and Batangas against Basilan at 8 p.m.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
