Zamboanga SiKat leaned on John Edcel Rojas’ clutch points to nip Marikina, 75-74, and stay close to the Manny Pacquiao presents MPBL 2025 Season pacesetters at the WES Arena in Valenzuela on Wednesday, April 2.
Rojas made a follow-up to knot the count and 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 gained on 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.
The 6-foot-2 Rojas, formerly of St. Clare College, wound up with 13 points and 5 rebounds to complement Abdul Sawat’s dominant 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.
In other games, the Ilagan Isabela Cowboys hit its targets in the second half and subdued the Quezon City Galleries Taipan, 80-72, while the Binan Tatak Gel leaned on Kenny Roger Rocacurva’s and Carlo Lastimosa to pip Valenzuela, 69-66.
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.
