The San Juan Knights flaunted their depth and firepower in a 110-89 thumping of the Quezon City Black Bulls, 110-89, on Friday, June 5, to move closer toward the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season leaders at the Orion Sports Complex in Bataan.
All of the 15 Knights fielded in scored four points or more as San Juan extended its winning run to six and climbed to 8-1 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.
AC Soberano led the Knights’ balanced offense with 12 points and 2 assists and was chosen the SportsPlus best player over Patrick Sleat, with 10 points and 2 assists, and Harold Alarcon, with 10 points and 2 rebounds.
Michael Phillips, Nikko Panganiban and Gerry Abadiano supported with nine points each as San Juan pulled away, 101-74.
Quezon City suffered its second straight loss and slid to 6-5 despite five players, headed by MJ Joson, carding double figures.
Joson notched 16 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, Kenz Rei Diokno, Jake Agoncillo and Rey Publico with 12 points each, and Aldave Canoy with 10 points.
Quezon City moved to within 40-36, but Soberano drilled in back-to-back triples for a total of four in the second quarter and pushed San Juan farther ahead at halftime, 63-42.
Batangas clobbers depleted Iloilo
The Batangas City Tanduay Athletics pounded the depleted Iloilo United Royals, 102-67, in the opener to extend their winning run to seven and improved to 9-2.
All but one of the 15 Athletics fielded scored, with Kraniel Villoria leading the charge with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals to earn best player honors.
Iloilo, which deployed only six players, tumbled to 2-10 as only Dan Sara, with 25 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and Carl Kenneth Sumalacay, with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, hit their stride.
Although the Athletics had a blast, their poor free throw shooting, converting only 6 of 14 attempts or 42.9 percent, should be a cause for concern for Coach Cholo Villanueva.
The Bataan Risers stunned the Basilan Steel, 109-84, in the nightcap to snap a seven-game slump and rekindle their playoff bid with a 4-7 card.
Joshua Gallano, brought along by new coach Myk Saguiguit from Olivarez College, notched 17 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals to clinch best player honors in his debut for the Risers.
The 6-foot-2 Gallano, Hubert Cani and Alfred Flores canned a triple in succession as the Risers cut loose, 32-20, after the first quarter and were never headed.
Other Risers who delivered were Chito Jaime with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, Yves Sazon, with 14 points and 2 steals, Cani, with 11 points and 5 rebounds,
Flores with 10 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds, and Robbi Darang, with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Basilan, which slid to 5-6, drew 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists from Gab Cometa, 15 points and 10 rebounds from John Wilson, and 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists from Joshua Marcos.
The MPBL goes to the Quezon City District 2 Gymnasium on Saturday, featuring games between Paranaque and Gensan at 4 p.m., Abra and Negros at 6 p.m., and Meycauayan and Sarangani at 8 p.m.
