THE San Juan Knights pulled away from the Bacolod Tubo Slashers after three quarters before cruising to an 83-77 victory and sharing second spot on Thursday in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Dexter Maiquez tallied 13 points and 7 rebounds to complement Orlan Wamar's 12-point, 10-assist, 2-rebound, 2-steal effort as San Juan recovered from the 86-97 beating it absorbed from unbeaten Nueva Ecija (11-0) on May 17 and caught up with Abra at 10-1 in the race for playoff spots.
READ Axel Inigo fires eight threes to power Mindoro's MPBL rout of Manila
AC Soberano provided support with 11 points, Michael Calisaan 10 points, and Arvin Gamboa 10 points for the Knights, whose 74-54 spread was trimmed by the Tubo Slashers' 9-point cluster built around Ira Bataller's triple and two charities.
Bacolod stumbled to 2-8 despite Mark Ray Dubouzet's 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Chester Saldua's 11 points and 11 rebounds, and PJ Intia's 11 points and 7 rebounds.
The Pasay Voyagers returned to orbit with a wire-to-wire 107-80 drubbing of the Cebu Classic in the nightcap.
Sidetracked by back-to-back losses, the Voyagers, with homegrown Brian Hilario and Warren Bonifacio at the helm, vented their ire on the Classic, leading by as far as 102-72 en route to their 8th win in 13 games.
Hilario posted 16 points and 4 rebounds, and Bonifacio 15 points and 2 rebounds for Pasay, which was further lifted by homegrown Damian Lasco's 12 points and Jordan Rios' 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Cebu tumbled to 4-8 despite Dennis Santos' 21 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Daniel Manliguez's 17 points and 4 rebounds, homegrown Mark Meneses' 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, and homegrown Dolan Adlawan's 10 points and 6 rebounds.
The Mindoro Tamaraws gored the Manila Batang Quiapo, 95-56, and climbed to 6-7.
Manila absorbed its 11th straight defeat after an initial win.
The MPBL returns to the Caloocan Sports Complex on Friday with games pitting Abra against Paranaque at 4 p.m., Zamboanga against Pampanga at 6 p.m., and Caloocan against Imus at 8 p.m.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
