Veteran bench tactician Bong Ramos returned to big-time basketball scene and quickly brought in his winning ways to the Zamboanga Sikat team, which coasted to an easy 77-57 dumping of Valenzuela in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Batangas City Coliseum on Thursday night.
JP Cauilan, Michael Are, Abdul Sawat and Ichie Altamirano conspired in a big scoring run for Zamboanga, which posted a 74-51 lead in the fourth quarter and was never seriously threatened from there.
Ramos, who coached both in the PBA and the MPBL, made his coaching comeback and immediately, the Universal Canning-owned squad responded with a renewed performance to make it to the win column this early.
But Zamboanga’s win was overshadowed by Quezon’s overpowering showing against host team Batangas City with a dominant 70-46 triumph in the main game.
Defense proved to be the weapon of choice for the souped up Huskers team, which paraded new players Diego Dario and Joseph Gabayni, two players who recently saw action in the PBA, and welcomed the return of former league Most Valuable Player Gab Banal.
Another key player, Will Gozum, is expected to rejoin the squad anytime soon, yet the strength of the Huskers lie not just on any individual player but the collective effort of the squad, particularly on the defensive end as it held the Rum Masters to just 46 points.
Batangas City couldn’t score more than 14 points in each of the quarter as Quezon kept the big guns of the Rum Masters grounded.
As a team, the Rum Masters shot a measly 22.2% shooting from the field (14-of-63), far from the team that became the league’s inaugural staging champion.
