BASILAN Steel leaned on the hot hands of John Wilson to trip Cebu, 80-75, on Monday to sustain its climb in the MPBL 2026 Season at the San Jose Del Monte Sports Complex in Bulacan.
Flashing the form that made him the 2019 MVP, Wilson notched 33 points, spiked by seven triples, nine rebounds and two steals to earn best player honors and power Basilan to its third win in four starts in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.
Wilson's torrid shooting rubbed off on his teammates as the Steel converted 15 of 31 long-distance attempts for a 48.4 percent accuracy that proved to be the big difference afterthe Cebu Greats made only 4 of 31 for a paltry 12.9 percent.
The Greats led at 50-40, only to be rattled by a 16-4 blast behind Wilson's 11 points to push Basilan ahead, 56-54.
Cebu's Brian Heruela drove in to tie the count for the last time as Gelo Loristo closed the third quarter with four straight points.
Basilan canned five straight triples to pad its lead to 74-66, which Cebu couldn't overhaul for a 2-2 slate.
Gab Cometa supported Wilson with nine points, followed by Jvee Casio with eight, including two triples.
Cebu drew 18 points and six rebounds from Mark Meneses, 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals from Dhon Reverente, and nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals from Brian Heruela.
The MPBL returns to the Pasay Astrodome on Tuesday, featuring games between Marikina and Quezon City at 4 p.m., Bacolod against Gensan at 6 p.m., and Bataan against Pasay at 8 p.m.
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