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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Pampanga thwarts Valenzuela; Biñan, Sarangani down rivals

Pampanga thwarts Valenzuela; Biñan, Sarangani down rivals

Published Jul 16, 2025 02:21 pm

At A Glance

  • The Pampanga Giant Lanterns recovered from a sluggish start to thwart the Valenzuela Classic, 69-64, on Tuesday, July 15, and stay within sight of the MPBL 2025 Season pacesetters at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Larry Muyang powers the Pampanga Giant Lanterns past the Valenzuela Classic. (MPBL Images)
Larry Muyang powers the Pampanga Giant Lanterns past the Valenzuela Classic. (MPBL Images)
The Pampanga Giant Lanterns recovered from a sluggish start to thwart the Valenzuela Classic, 69-64, on Tuesday, July 15, and stay within sight of the MPBL 2025 Season pacesetters at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
The reigning back-to-back champions trailed the Classics by as many as 8-22 and needed a 9-point run to tie the count, before notching their 15th win in 20 starts in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Pampanga trails fellow North Division teams Abra (18-1), Nueva Ecija (18-1) and San Juan (17-1), and South Division leader Quezon Province (15-3) in the chase for playoff spots.
Larry Muyang was the Giant Lanterns' bright light with game-highs 16 points and 14 rebounds, followed by Jhan Nermal with 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks, and John Ashley Faa with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Pampanga Top Gun Archie Concepcion couldn't find his range, making only one of 12 field goal attempts, and settled for 4 points.
Valenzuela, which fell to 4-17, drew 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals from Jan Formento, and 13 points plus 3 rebounds from Kobe Monje.
Earlier, Biñan Tatak Gel led throughout in a 55-47 victory over Muntinlupa and climbed to 12-7.
Kristan Hernandez and Warren Bonifacio tallied 10 points and 7 rebounds each for Biñan, which also drew 6 points and 6 rebounds from Jaymar Gimpayan.
Muntinlupa continued its slide and tumbled to 10-9 despite Miguel Ives Corteza's 16 points and Marvin Hayes' 11.
Sarangani subdued Davao Occidental, 66-54, in the opener to stay in contention.
Powered by Danny Marilao, Kyt Jimenez and Junjie Lallare, the Sarangani Grippers improved to 8-12.
Marilao posted 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists to earn best player honors over Jimenez, owner of the league's lone quadruple-double, with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, and Hallare with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Sarangani made only 5 of 12 free throws for a lowly 41.7 percent, but compensated by making 7 of 23 triple attempts against Davao's 3 of 25 tries.
The Davao Occidental Tigers suffered their third straight defeat and fell to 7-11 as only Jeff Comia submitted twin digits with 10.
The MPBL goes to the Cuneta Astrodome on Wednesday with games pitting Marikina against Gensan at 4 p.m., Paranaque against Zamboanga at 6 p.m., and host Pasay against Pasig at 8 p.m.
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