CALGARY, Canada – Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines pounded the boards and went on to subdue Imus Bandera Luxxe Slim, 88-72, last Friday (yesterday in Manila) in the Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Season’s first official game in North America at Seven Chiefs Sportsplex here.
Banking on gang rebounding, Zamboanga grabbed 59 rebounds against only 34 for Imus which it translated to 44 points inside the paint and 12 second chance points to overwhelm the Bandera’s 22 and five points, respectively, in both aspects.
Zamboanga, powered by Alvin Pasaol’s 21 points and six boards, thus stretched its win run to four and climbed to 16-4 in the South division of the 31-team league.
Also-ran Imus dropped to 6-20.
Pasaol, who made four triples, got ample support from Norman Aaron Black with 13 points and seven rebounds and Anton Asistio with 12 points.
Jun Bonsubre accounted for seven points and nine rebounds, Leonard Santillan six rebounds, and Robin Rono six rebounds for playoffs-bound Zamboanga of coach Britt Reroma.
Zamboanga pulled away at 54-31, but Imus countered with a 14-point cluster, highlighted by Jojo Cunanan’s two triples and one each from actor Gerald Anderson and former PBA MVP Jayjay Helterbrand to narrow the gap at 54-45.
