The San Juan Knights went full throttle in the third quarter and battered the Bacolod Masskaras, 128-85, on Saturday to gain ground in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Kamalig Sports Complex in Orion, Bataan.
Ahead, 61-50 at halftime, the Knights poured in 38 points against the Masskaras’ 18 in the third to pull away for good and tally their fifth win against one loss in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.
San Juan trailed Caloocan (7-0) in the North Division. Gensan (7-0) and Quezon Province (4-0) pace the South Division in the chase for playoff seats.
In other games, Binan, with Nic Cabanero at the helm, downed Bataan, 89-79, in the nightcap to rise to 5-3, while the Marikina Shoemasters extended the Paranaque Patriots’ woes with a wire-to-wire 94-69 victory in the opener.
Orlan Wamar sparked San Juan’s romp, pumping in all of his 18 points on six triples in the first half, before concentrating on feeding his teammates, which led to a season-high 46 assists.
The 5-foot-6 Wamar also issued 14 assists and grabbed 2 rebounds to clinch the SportsPlus best player honors over Patrick Sleat, who tallied 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, and Terrence Fortea, with 16 points and 4 assists.
JP Boral supported them with 12 points and 4 rebounds, followed by AC Soberano, with 10 points and 2 rebounds, Mike Phillips, with 9 points and 11 rebounds, and Jearico Nunez, with 7 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Cabanero, former star of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, posted 21 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by Carlo Lastimosa with 14 points and 2 rebounds.
Michael Mabulac, Marc Pingris and Pamboy Raymundo delivered 10 points each for Binan, which surged ahead at 77-64.
