The San Juan Knights thrived under pressure and subdued the Gensan Warriors, 74-66, on Saturday to become the winningest team in Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-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 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).
Mitchelle Maynes powered Bataan with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, followed by Lorenz Capulong with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and Chris Javier with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
Sarangani, which got 15 points from Migs Pascual and 12 points from Larce Sunga, skidded to 9-18 and must win its two remaining games against Paranaque and Caloocan to have a chance of making the play-in round.
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.
With a 12-15 record, Pasig is in 9th spot, trailing Ilagan Isabela (14-14).
Batac tallied 19 points, 13 assists and 5 rebounds to clinch best player honors over Galicia, who chalked up 20 points, 13 rebounds and 2 steals.
The Tamaraws knotted the count at 75 on a drive by RJ Ramirez, but John Felix Corpuz and Galicia countered with back-to-back baskets to put the Pasiguenos back on top with 1 minute and 28 seconds to go.
Mindoro skidded to 14-12, but is assured of the eighth spot in the South as ninth-placer Muntinlupa cannot catch up with its 16-14 card.
The Tamaraws got 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists from Bambam Gamalinda, 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists from Ino Comboy, 14 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals from RJ Ramirez, and 13 points plus 5 rebounds from Jeco Barcale.
The MPBL resumes on Monday with another triple-bill at the Batangas City Coliseum. The games pit Quezon City against Nueva Ecija at 4 p.m., Davao against Cebu at 6 p.m., and Batangas against Bulacan at 8 p.m.
