THE San Juan Knights banked on Orlan Wamar and Dexter Maiquez to subdue the Batangas City Tanduay Rhum Masters, 72-63, on Thursday and extend their hot streak in MPBL 2025 Season at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Wamar clustered eight points, spiked by back-to-back triples, while Maiquez also poured eight as they outscored the entire Rhum Masters, 16-15, in the fourth quarter and powered the Knights to their fifth straight win.
READ Hot-shooting Bataan Risers torch Imus, snap three-game slide
San Juan, the 2019 MPBL champion, only trails Nueva Ecija (7-0) and is ahead of fellow unbeaten teams Muntinlupa (3-0) and Pasig (1-0).
With reigning titlist Pampanga, Abra, Zamboanga, Rizal Province and Quezon Province all with 5-1 slates, the race for playoff slots is on.
Batangas stayed within sight, 61-67, but Wamar knocked in a triple and Maiquez hooked a shot in with 49.9 seconds left to pull down the Rhum Masters, the MPBL inaugural titlist, to a 3-4 card.
Wamar wound up with 16 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds to clinch Best Player honors over Maiquez, who posted 18 points and 4 rebounds, and Michael Calisaan with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists. Veteran Reynel Hugnatan contributed 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Knights.
Batangas got 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists from Jong Baloria, 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals from Levi Hernandez, 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists from Kenneth Ighalo, and 8 points, plus 13 rebounds from Dawn Ochea.
The Bataan Risers struck from afar and showed more cohesion in a 94-77 demolition of the Imus Braderhood in the opener.
With Dom Vera sinking five triples, Rhinwill Yambing three and Jeff Santos two, the Risers surged ahead, 38-18, and proceeded to snap a three-game slide and climb to 2-5.
The Risers pooled 14 triples from 32 tries against the Braderhood's 3 out of 20, proving to be the big difference.
In addition, the Risers handed more assists, 31-18, to compound the Braderhood's problems and pull them down to 4-3.
The MPBL returns to the Paco Arena in Manila on Friday, April 11, with a tripleheader pitting Muntinlupa against Bacolod at 4 p.m., Basilan against Abra at 6 p.m., and Bulacan against Pasig at 8 p.m.
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