San Juan, Abra gain share of MPBL lead

MANILA, Philippines — San Juan and Abra Solid North took different routes toward the top spot in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-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, in the nightcap; while the Abra Weavers battered Manila Batang Quiapo throughout en route to a 117-63 rout in the opener.

San Juan and Abra thus 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.

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 eight rebounds, while Wamar notched 13 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. AC Soberano and Kenneth Villapando provided support with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Zamboanga got 14 points, three rebounds and three assists from Carl Bryan Cruz; 13 points and four rebounds from Ichie Altamirano; and 12 points, four rebounds and three 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 split 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, six rebounds and two steals; Mark Ray Malazarte 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists; and Dubouzet 13 points, six assists and three rebounds.

Basilan drew 14 points, eight assists, three rebounds and two steals from Navarro; 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals; and Emman Calo 11 points and six rebounds.

Ahead by 13, Abra clustered 19 points bridging the second and third quarters to pull away, 78-46, for good from Manila.

Dave Ildefonso struck the hardest for Abra with 25 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals; followed by John Uduba with 11 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists and two steals; and Jolo Mendoza with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Other Weavers who delivered were Mark Yee with 10 points and five rebounds; CJ Austria with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals; Geo Chiu with nine points, nine rebounds and two steals; and Joshua David with eight points, 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals.

With Uduba and the 6-foot-10 Chiu manning the post, the Weavers posted a decisive 73-36 edge in rebounds that they converted to more points in the paint (50-16) and second-chance points (22-3) than the Batang Quiapo.

Also-ran Manila, which fell to 2-18, got 20 points and nine rebounds from Alfred Sedillo; and 15 points, three rebounds and three 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.