By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

The Defending champion Rangers are slowly climbing up the ladder even as the league-leading Patriots continued their winning ways after Sunday’s games in the All-Filipino Basketball Association at the Palau National Gymnasium.
The Rangers defeated the hard fighting Samurai, 84-66, and further improved their record to 5-3 in fourth place.
Big forward Ronald Mamuyac and off guard Fernandez scored 10 points each in a well-balanced scoring performance for the Rangers, who dealt sixth-running Samurai its fourth defeat in eight outings.
Earlier, the Patriots thrived on fast break plays to score a hard-earned 85-74 victory over ninth placer Santa Fe (1-7) and remained undefeated in eight games.
June Baustista, Villena and Joeger Supnet had 20, 19 and 18 for the Patriots, who in their previous game lost to Palau’s Wass’up team but protested and got a favorable decision.
Wass’up team is running third with a 5-2 record behind second placer ATT-Jaguars (6-1).
Surangel-Asian Spirit finally snapped a three-game losing skid by walloping unheralded Basty Ngchesar, 105-69.
The win was the Jets’ fourth in seven outings while dealing Basty its seventh in as many games.
In the second protested game of the season, Palau Royal Resort entered a new player and won against PDC Rams, 83-67.
The Rams were protesting PRR’s addition in Romulo Lanzuela, who carried a provisional permit.
Final decision on the protest was not yet available as of presstime.
Lanzuela scored 24 points for PRR in that game. Dennis Belza had 30.
The Rams, however, are running seventh with 3-5 ahead of PRR’s 2-6 in eighth spot.