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Friday, March 29, 2024

Imus, Zambo refuse to be swept

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Imus and Zamboanga refused to follow the trend of teams being swept in the MPBL Playoffs as they carved out contrasting victories late Thursday night to live for another day in the MPBL Datu Cup at the Muntinlipa Sports Complex.

The GLC Truck and Equipment-backed Bandera outlasted the Batangas City Athletics-Taduay, 75-69, as James Castro hit 5-of-6 free throws in the last 22 seconds and denied the inaugural staging champions of a sweep in the tournament put up by Senator Manny Pacquiao with PBA legend and former MVP Kenneth Duremdes serving as commissioner.

Imus will try to do the herculean task of completing an upset win right at the enemy’s territory on Monday, 9 p.m., right after the game between Muntinlupa and Zamboanga, which also denied its rival an outright entry into the Final Four of the southern division of the tournament also supported by LGR.

The Family’s Brand Sardines-supported Zamboanga side survived a grueling battle with host Muntinlupa before preserving an 84-73 triumph in the other game.

In the first meeting in the playoffs, it was Allan Mangahas, who showed he could dominate the game even without scoring that much.

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On Thursday, it was Harold Arboleda’s turn to do such as the 6’3” forward grabbed 17 rebounds and dished out 13 assists, while contributing five markers.

Offensively, it was Reed Juntilla, who took over for Zamboanga as the ex-pro tallied 26 points on top of eight rebounds, while also getting ample support from Robin Roño, who delivered 23 points. Ivan Villanueva came off the bench and produced 11 for the Sardines Capital of the Philippines, which is poised to line up as the next lower seed team to beat a high-ranked squad in the playoffs.

“Masarap manalo kapag home court ng kalaban, siguro yun ang pinaka motivation namin,” said Arboleda. “Kapag nagawa namin yan, parehas na ulit ang laban dahil mawawala na yung home court advantage.”

Zamboanga coach Raymond Valenzona said they will continue to work hard in practice to anticipate the highly-physical, highly emotional encounter that will happen in Batangas City on Monday. 

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