CJ Lane starts to hit his stride for the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters. MPBL
By Dugout Philippines

MANILA--The Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters battered Manila Batang Quiapo, 103-59, in the nightcap on Thursday to share the second spot in the South Division of Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.

Batangas raised its record to 16-8, catching up with Zamboanga Sikat, which yielded to Gensan, 70-71, in the second game of the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team, two-division tournament.

Powered by 6-foot-10 Fil-Am CJ Lane, Jeckster Apinan and John Ambulodto, Batangas pounded the boards, 65-29, to tally its fourth straight victory and stay close to division pacesetter Quezon Province (18-4) in the jostling for better playoff placings.

Lane, fielded for 19 minutes and 11 seconds, posted 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block to clinch best player honors over Apinan, who notched 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists; and Ambulodto, with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Levi Hernandez and Philip Paniamogan contributed 10 points each as 14 of 15 players used by Batangas scored.

Manila tumbled to 2-21 as Alfred Sedillo, Stephen Torralba and Redgimir Eusebio could only tally 8 points each.

Larry Rodriguez drilled in a 3-pointer atop the key with 3.6 seconds left to lift the Gensan Warriors past the Zamboanguenos and a 15-9 card, within sight of fourth-ranked Rizal Xentromall (14-8) in the South Division.

Mark Cruz paced Gensan with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, followed by Eloie Tan with 11 points, Val Acuna with 9 points, Rodriguez with 6 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, and Kyle Tolentino with 5 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

Zamboanga got 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists from Abdul Sawat, 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists from Ichie Altamirano, and 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists from Med Salim.

The Ilagan Isabela Cowboys piled a big lead in the fourth quarter before cruising to a 75-63 victory over the Muntinlupa Cagers in the opener.

The Cowboys led as far as 71-45 in the fourth quarter and climbed to 13-11, trailing Pasay (16-8) and towing Bataan (9-15) in the North Division being led by North powerhouses Abra (22-1), Nueva Ecija (22-1) and San Juan (21-2).

JR Olegario posted 17 points, 12 in the third quarter, 4 rebounds and 2 assists to edge fellow Cowboys Agem Miranda, with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals; and Mark Dyke, with 15 points, 16 rebounds and 2 steals, for the best player award.

Buenaventura Raflores wound up with 12 points plus 10 rebounds, and Dom Matillano 10 points plus 5 rebounds for Muntinlupa, which slumped to 10-13.

The MPBL postponed Friday's games set at the Marikina Sports Center on Friday, August 22, 2025, due to heavy rains in certain parts of Metro Manila. Affected were the games between  Davao and Quezon City at 4 p.m., Rizal Province and Bacolod at 6 p.m., and Marikina and San Juan at 8 p.m.

The new dates of the postponed games will be announced in due course.