The San Juan Knights thrived under pressure and subdued the Gensan Warriors, 74-66, on Saturday to become the winningest team in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Orion Sports Complex in Bataan.
With the Warriors threatening at 62-63, halfway through the fourth quarter, the Knights, led by Orlan Wamar and John Galinato, broke through with an 11-2 run for their 25th win against two losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team, two-division tournament.
San Juan, co-founded by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, trails only Abra Solid North (24-1) and paces Nueva Ecija (24-2) in the North Division as well as the overall standings.
Wamar posted 15 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds to run away with the best player honors as no other Knight scored in double digits, with Dexter Maiquez contributing 8 points, Nikko Panganiban 7, and Galinato, Arvin Gamboa and Kenneth Villapando 6 each.
Gensan fell to 16-11 as only Joel Lee Yu ansd CJ Gonzales struck back with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Warriors shared the fifth spot with the Basilan Starhorse Portmasters in the South Division, led by the Quezon Huskers (23-4), the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters (18-9), and the Rizal XentroMall Golden Coolers (17-8).
The Bataan Risers battered the Sarangani Grippers, 90-62, in the second game to rise to 11-16 and virtually claim a play-in slot in the North.
Bataan needs only to beat either Bacolod (4-22) or Valenzuela (6-21) to move beyond the reach of Quezon City Galeries Taipan (7-18).
Pasig leaned on Warlo James Batac and Jacob Galicia to nip Mindoro, 81-78, in the opener and assure itself of a play-in stint in the North.
Jinggoy Estrada’s San Juan posts 25th MPBL win; Bataan, Pasig trip rivals
