QUEZON Province, General Santos City and Zamboanga SIKAT hurdled their rivals on Monday to forge a six-way tie for the lead in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Bataan People's Center in Balanga City.
The Quezon Huskers flaunted their defense in a 58-45 victory over the Cebu Classic, the Gensan Warriors thwarted the Bataan Risers, 77-74, while Zamboanga pounded the boards to trip Sarangani, 82-67, in the round-robin elimination round of the 30-team tournament.
Quezon, Gensan and Zamboanga notched their second straight victory in as many outings and caught up with early pacesetters Abra, Pangasinan and Abra.
The Huskers stifled the Cebu gunners to just 30 points after three quarters then leaned on LJ Gonzales' 10-point effort in the fourth to bolster their bid for a second straight South Division crown and another crack at the national title won by the Pampanga Giant Lanterns for the second straight time last year.
Gonzales wound up with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals to clinch Best Player honors over Jason Opiso, who posted 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Vince Magbuhos was the other Husker in twin digits with 10 plus 7 rebounds.
Only Darell Manliguez struck back for Cebu, which slid to 1-1, with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Lean Vincent Martel settled for 9 points and 4 boards and Ladis Lepalam chalked 6 points and 9 rebounds for Cebu, which trailed by as far as 58-41.
The GenSan-Bataan encounter was a thriller with the Risers climbing back from a 61-71 hole with 6 minutes and 15 seconds left.
A triple by Yves Sazon pushed Bataan to within 71-72, but Mark Cruz made one of three charities and Joel Lee Yu drove in to seal the outcome with only 3.9 seconds to go.
Although Hubert Cani quickly drilled in a triple for GenSan, Marwin Dionisio pegged the final count with two free throws.
Gensan's Aaron Jeruta was chosen Best Player with 10 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal, edging Cruz with 12 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal, Joel Lee Yu with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, and Larry Rodriguez with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal.
Bataan, which fell to 0-2, drew 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals from Sazon, 10 points and 8 rebounds from Carl Bringas, and 10 points, 3 steals and 2 assists from Cani.
Poor free throw shooting hounded the Risers as they converted only 16 of 32 attempts for 50 percent.
The MPBL goes to the Caloocan Sports Complex on Tuesday with games pitting Batangas against Imus at 4 p.m., Pampanga against Marikina at 6 p.m., and Caloocan against Mindoro at 8 p.m.
The defending champion Pampanga Giant Lanterns are seeking a second straight win while the Batangas City Tanduay Rhum Masters are seeking redemption after being humbled by the Quezon Huskers, 70-46, at home on March 12.
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