The San Juan Knights went full throttle in the third quarter and trounced the Basilan Steel, 97-79, on Saturday to bolster their drive in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Orion Sports Complex in Bataan.
Led by Gerry Abadiano’s 11 points, San Juan outscored Basilan in that span, 28-15, to pull away at 74-53 and cruise to its fifth straight win for a 7-1 slate in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.
San Juan, the 2019 MPBL national champion, trails unbeaten Caloocan (10-0), Gensan (10-0) and Quezon Province (7-0), and is tied with reigning titlist Abra Solid North in the overall race for playoff spots.
In other games, the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers showed better firepower in beating the Bataan Risers, 100-93, while Steve Nash Enriquez completed a three-point play in the last 22.1 seconds to lift the Pasay Voyagers past the Quezon City Black Bulls, 76-75.
Abadiano, a former junior national team member and University of the Philippines star, posted 20 points, spiked by three triples, 4 rebounds and 3 assists to earn the SportsPlus best player honors over Michael Calisaan, with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Dexter Maiquez, with 12 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
Other Knights who shone were Mike Phillips with 10 points and 7 rebounds, and Aldrech Ramos, with 10 points and 5 rebounds.
Alwyn Alday led seven Golden Coolers in double figures as Rizal posted its second straight win and entered the upper half of the standings with a 5-4 card.
Alday, only the third member of the MPBL 2,000-point club, tallied 22 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by JP Maguliano with 13 points and 6 rebounds, JP Sarao with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and Marco Balagtas, with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
