The Gensan Warriors kept their poise in the crunch and bested Caloocan Batang Kankaloo, 85-82, on Tuesday in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
Staring at a 75-81 deficit after leading 73-68 early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors tightened their defense and bundled six points to knot the count at 81, with 45.1 seconds left.
Gensan’s Joshua Fontanilla then converted two charities and Larry Rodriguez scored on a fastbreak for the final count as Caloocan’s Jeff Manday missed a hurried 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds to go.
The Warriors raised their record to 15-4 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 26-team tournament and occupied the fourth spot in the South division, behind Batangas City (15-3), Quezon Province (13-3), and Binan (17-4).
In other games, the Zamboanga SiKat leaned on Brandon Wilson to nip Valenzuela City, 76-73, and rev up its playoff drive with an 8-12 slate, while the Bataan Risers trounced the Sarangani 10ACT Marlins, 90-73, in the opener to remain in playoff contention.
With the win, the Risers improved to 9-12, while the Sarangani cagers slipped to 3-22.
Fontanilla, former star of St. Clare College of Caloocan, notched 20 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds to earn the SportsPlus best player honors over Adi Santos, who had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists.
Rodriguez wound up with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by Hesed Gabo with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and Kris Porter with 9 points.
Caloocan, which dropped to 17-3 and third place in the North division, drew 19 points, including a perfect 12 of 12 free throws, 9 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals from Kean Baclaan, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals from Manday, 14 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals from Kymani Ladi, and 11 points from Jeramer Cabanag.
