SAN JUAN trounced Batangas City, 83-69, on Thursday at the Batangas City Coliseum to keep pace with the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season leaders.
The Knights led throughout and by as far as 52-27 to raise their record to 15-1 in the round-robin eliminations of the 29-team tournament.
Paolo Hernandez and Marwin Taywan presided over a balanced San Juan offense with 10 points each. They were supported by Zach Huang, Orlan Wamar, and Nikko Panganiban with nine points apiece.
With Huang also snagging 11 rebounds, the Knights ruled the boards, 50-29, and converted it to 46 points in the paint against only 28 for the Rum Masters, who sorely missed top gun Levi Hernandez.
San Juan shot better from deep as well with 10 triples out of 27 tries against only 3-of-23 for Batangas.
The home team, which fell to 12-5, got 18 points and nine rebounds from Cedric Ablaza and 11 points from Juneric Baloria.
READ: Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards survive a scare from Iloilo
In other games, the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards quelled the Iloilo United Royals' final rally to prevail, 78-73, while the Negros Muscovados erected a 24-point spread and used it as buffer to nip Bacolod City of Smiles, 96-92.
The MPBL goes to the Cuneta Astrodome on Friday with games pitting Zamboanga against Quezon City at 4 p.m., South Cotabato against Abra at 6 p.m., and Quezon Province against Pasay at 8 p.m.
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