ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Pasay, Rizal bolster drive for top 4 spots in playoffs

Pasay, Rizal bolster drive for top 4 spots in playoffs

Published Sep 18, 2025 09:39 am

At A Glance

  • The Pasay Voyagers continued their upward journey with a 95-89 victory over the Marikina Shoemasters on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Manny Pacquiao Presents MPBL 2025 Season at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Marco Balagtas turns hot for the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers. (MPBL Images)
Marco Balagtas turns hot for the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers. (MPBL Images)
The Pasay Voyagers continued their upward journey with a 95-89 victory over the Marikina Shoemasters on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Manny Pacquiao Presents MPBL 2025 Season at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
With six Voyagers piling double digits, Pasay thwarted Marikina's comeback from a 20-point hole (21-41) to notch their ninth straight win and rise to 19-8 in the North Division of the 30-team tournament,
Pasay trails Abra (24-1), San Juan (25-2) and Nueva Ecija (25-2), all of which are assured of landing in the top four in the round-robin elimination phase.
Voyagers Christian Fajarito, Marc Daniel Sangco and Jasper Salenga scored 14 points each, followed by Jopet Soriano and Damian Lasco with 12 each, and Cyrus Tabi with 10 points plus 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Pasay bunched 9 points, the last five by Lasco, to pull anew at 87-72 with 3 minutes and 47 seconds to go before Marikina made its final assault to bridge the gap, 87-92.
Also-ran Marikina slid to 4-23, putting to waste Do Timajo's 23 points and 6 rebounds, Jethro Escoto's 13 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, and Jacob Ubaldo's 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Rizal Xentromall fended off Muntinlupa's tough stand to prevail, 89-84, in the second game.
The Muntinlupa Cagers were ahead, 84-83, with 43.6 seconds left, but the Golden Coolers scored the game's last six points through Eric Camson, Marco Balagtas and Robin Julian Nayve to improve to 18-8.
The Golden Coolers trail only the Quezon Huskers (23-4) and the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Makers (19-9), but are ahead of the Zamboanga Sikat (17-10), Binan Tatak Gel (16-11), Basilan Portmasters (16-11) and Gensan Wariors (16-11) in the jostling for playoff spots in the South Division.
The top four finishers in the North and South will have the homecourt edge in the playoffs, where the fifth and sixth finishers also advance outright. The seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth placers will have to go through the play-in.
Balagtas, who also bunched six points to give Rizal control, 80-76, wound up with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists; Camson with 18 points and 12 rebounds; and Alwyn Alday 15 points.
Muntinlupa, which tumbled to 10-17, got 19 points from Kurt Lojera, 14 from Miguel Ives Corteza, 13 from Patrick Ramos and 10 from Lloyd Cabeguin.
Sarangani beat Paranaque, 103-89, in the opener and improved to 10-18.
Charles Callano posted 20 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds; Migs Pascual tallied a career-high 19 points, plus 11 assists and 4 rebounds; and King Destacamiento chalked up 16 points, 19 rebounds and 3 assists for Sarangani, which also drew 16 points from Coy Alves, 12 from John Carlos Escalambre, and 10 from Martin Gozum.
Paranaque tumbled to a league-worst 1-26 slate despite Shaquille Alanes' 22-point, 9-assist, 5-rebound, 3-block effort.
The MPBL goes to the Caloocan Sports Complex on Thursday, with games pitting Bulacan against Gensan at 4 P.M., Abra against San Juan at 6 p.m., and Caloocan against Ilagan Isabela at 8 p.m.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.