The San Juan Knights subdued the Davao Occidental Tigers, 95-79, on Friday to wrest the solo lead in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Ynares Center Montalban in Rizal Province.
Barely ahead, 60-62, the Knights banked on Dexter Maiquez and Orlan Wamar to pull away, 93-75, and seal the wire-to-wire victory that raised their record to 21-1 in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team, 2-division tournament.
San Juan moved ahead of fellow playoff qualifiers Nueva Ecija and Abra, both with 20-1 slates.
In other games, the Rizal Xentromall broke free in the third quarter and cruised past Ilagan Isabela, 71-63, while Imus bunched 10 points to start the fourth quarter and went on to beat Bulacan, 92-83.
Maiquez tallied 14 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, and 10 rebounds; while Wamar posted 12 points, 9 in the fourth, 8 assists and 3 rebounds for Coach Alex Angeles, who fielded all 15 players at his disposal.
Ron Dennison supported them with 11 points and 2 rebounds, followed by Aldrech Ramos and Nikko Panganiban with 8 points each.
The Golden Coolers erected a 54-41 spread behind Alwyn Alday and Michael Canete, and then relied on Samboy De Leon in the fourth quarter to improve to 14-7.
Alday wound up with 16 points and 3 rebounds to clinch best player honors over Canete, who finished with 19 points and 2 rebounds. De Leon scored all of his 8 points in the homestretch.
The Cowboys dropped to 12-10 despite Agem Miranda’s 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists; Mark Dyke’s 13 points and 14 rebounds; and Arth Dela Cruz’s 10 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists.
