THE Abra Solid North Weavers flaunted their firepower and battered the Pampanga Giant Lanterns, 94-80, on Tuesday to regain a share of the lead in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Lucena City Convention Center.
With Dave Ildefonso at the firing end, Raven Gonzales and John Uduba taking care of the boards, and Marwin Taywan orchestrating the plays, the Weavers led by as much as 49-21 on the way to matching San Juan Knights' 21-1 (win-loss) record.
The Quezon Huskers followed suit with a 91-54 thumping of the Basilan Starhorse Portmasters in the nightcap, keeping the South Division top spot in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team, 2-division tournament.
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Ildefonso posted 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists to clinch Best Player honors over Taywan, who tallied 17 points and 10 assists; Uduba, who contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds; and Taywan, who chalked up 9 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists.
With Taywan sinking 4 of 5 triple attempts and Joshua David making 2 of 3, the Weavers went 8 of 22 from beyond the arc and 24 of 28 charities for a high 85.7 percent.
The Giant Lanterns fell to 15-7, putting doubts on their capability to pull off a three-peat.
Pampanga got 24 points and 2 steals from Archie Concepcion, 17 points, 13 rebounds. 2 assists and 2 blocks from Larry Muyang, and 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists from Jhaymo Eguilos.
Deadlier from afar, the Huskers drilled in 35 of 73 field goal attempts, including 17 of 37 triple tries, and improved to 17-4.
Judel Fuentes paced the Huskers with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals; towing Will Gozum with 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals; LJ Gonzales with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals; homegrown icon Topeng Lagrama with 9 points, all from triples, 3 assists and 2 rebounds; and Ximone Sandagon with 9 points and 3 rebounds.
Basilan suffered its second straight defeat for a 10-11 slate, dropping to joint eighth with Muntinlupa in the South Division.
Only Gab Dagangon scored in double digits with 10, followed by Michael Alvarez with 8 points and Sherwin Concepcion with 7.
Caloocan Batang Kankaloo subdued Valenzuela City Magic, 69-56, in the opener to secure a playoff berth.
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The Batang Kankaloo allowed the Magic to lead only for 48 seconds before taking control over their neighbors and rising to 16-7, behind sure qualifiers San Juan (21-1), Abra (20-1), Nueva Ecija (20-1), Pampanga (15-6) and Pangasinan (15-6), and ahead of Pasay (15-8) and Ilagan Isabela (12-10) in the North Division.
Homegrown Paul Casin paced Caloocan with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, followed by Jeff Manday with 11 points and 4 rebounds, and Rommel Calahat with 9 points and 10 assists.
Valenzuela got 17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists from Jan Formento, and 10 points plus 6 rebounds from Nem Dela Cruz.
With Antonio Bonsubre matching Calahat's 10 rebounds, Caloocan ruled the boards, 63-56, and exploited this to score 36 points in the paint against only 16 for the Magic.
The MPBL goes to the Batangas City Coliseum on Monday, with games pitting Sarangani against Muntinlupa at 4 p.m., Mindoro against Gensan at 6 p.m., and Batangas against Bacolod at 8 p.m.
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