SAN Juan and Abra Solid North took different routes toward the top spot in the MPBL 2025 Season on Monday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The San Juan Knights warded off Zamboanga SiKat's challenge in the second half and prevailed, 80-69 while the Abra Weavers battered Manila Batang Quiapo throughout en route to a 117-63 rout in the opener.
San Juan and Abra raised their record to 20-1 and moved ahead of Nueva Ecija (19-1) in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
READ Dave Ildefonso leads Abra's 54-point rout of Manila Batang Quiapo
Trailing in the first quarter, San Juan, with Michael Calisaan and Orlan Wamar at the helm, seized control at the break, 36-33, and never yielded it back to Zamboanga, which dropped to 15-7.
Calisaan posted 20 points and 8 rebounds while Wamar notched 13 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds. AC Soberano and Kenneth Villapando provided support with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Zamboanga got 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists from Carl Bryan Cruz, 13 points and 4 rebounds from Ichie Altamirano, and 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists from JP Cauilan.
Also-ran Bacolod stunned listless Basilan Starhorse, 76-73, in the second game to improve to 3-18.
Basilan erased a 57-69 deficit and briefly held the lead, 72-71, following back-to-back triples from Lorenzo Navarro.
The Tubo Slashers, however, countered through Aldave Canoy and free throws by Aldave Canoy, Mart James Barrera and Mark Ray Dubouzet to pull down the Portmasters to 10-10.
Canoy wound up with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals; Mark Ray Malazarte 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists; and Dubouzet 13 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds.
Basilan drew 14 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals from Navarro.
Dave Ildefonso struck the hardest for Abra with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals; followed by John Uduba with 11 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, and Jolo Mendoza with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Other Weavers who delivered were Mark Yee with 10 points and 5 rebounds, CJ Austria with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, Geo Chiu with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals, and Joshua David with 8 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Manila, which fell to 2-18, got 20 points and 9 rebounds from Alfred Sedillo and 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists from Decoy Lopez.
The MPBL visits the Orion Sports Complex on Tuesday, with games pitting Nueva Ecija against Pasig at 4 p.m., Muntinlupa against Batangas at 6 p.m., and Bataan against Binan at 8 p.m.
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