ZAMBOANGA SiKat leaned on John Edcel Rojas' clutch points to nip Marikina, 75-74, and stayed close to the MPBL 2025 Season pacesetters at the WES Arena in Valenzuela on Wednesday.
Rojas made a follow-up to knot the count, then converted his second free throw with 2.6 seconds left to lift Zamboanga to its 4th win against one loss in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Zamboanga moved just behind Nueva Ecija and Rizal Xentromall, both 5-0, Quezon Province (4-0) and San Juan (3-0), caught up with Pangasinan and Abra, and moved ahead of reigning back-to-back champion Pampanga and Caloocan, both 3-1, in the race for playoff berths.
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The 6-foot-2 Rojas, formerly of St. Clare College, wound up with 13 points and 5 rebounds to complement Abdul Sawat's 17-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist performance and JP Cauilan's 13-point, 9-rebound, 3-assist output.
Marikina suffered its sixth straight defeat despite Nem Dela Cruz's 24-point, 4-assist, 3-steal effort and Julius Tiburcio's 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists.
Binan Tatak Gel leaned on Kenny Roger Rocacurva and Carlo Lastimosa to pip Valenzuela, 69-66, in the nightcap.
Trailing 62-50, Valenzuela rallied behind Kyle Drexler Neypes and JR Alabanza and tied the count at 66 with 1 minute and 7 seconds left.
Rocacurva, however, drove in to shatter the deadlock, while Lastimosa made the first of two free throws with 3.9 ticks to go for the marginal points that lifted Binan's card to 3-3.
Binan drew 10 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks from Jaymar Gimpayan, 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals from Marc Pingris, 10 points and 7 rebounds from Christian Fajarito, 10 points from Kristan Hernandez, and 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists from Rocacurva.
Valenzuela, which fell to 2-4, got 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists from Neypes, 9 points and 6 rebounds from Alabanza, and 9 points plus 2 assists from JR Ongteco.
The Ilagan Isabela Cowboys hit targets in the second half and subdued the Quezon City Galleries Taipan, 80-72, in the opener.
Arth Dela Cruz, Mark Dyke and Joshua Guiab combined for 29 points in that span, enabling the Cowboys to pull away, 70-55, en route to a 3-3 slate.
Dela Cruz, the Cowboys' top gun, posted 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, Guiab 14 points plus 8 rebounds, and Dyke 10 points plus 11 rebounds as Ilagan snapped a two-game slide.
Quezon City fades
Gab Gomez notched 14 points and 8 rebounds and was chosen Best Player.
Quezon City, which tumbled to 2-3, got 12 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds from Vincent Gregg Cunanan and 9 points each from Jerome Santos and Ry Aijer De la Rosa.
Ahead in rebounds, 48-42, the Cowboys outscored the Taipans in second-chance points, 21-6.
The MPBL goes to the San Andres Sports Complex on Thursday with games pitting Quezon Province against Pasay at 4 p.m., Caloocan against Gensan at 6 p.m., and Pampanga against Manila at 8 p.m.
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