The San Juan Knights defused the Mindoro Tamaraws' last bombs and prevailed 77-72 on Thursday, March 27, to climb in the Manny Pacquiao presents MPBL 2025 Season at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.

Coasting along, 71-60, with less than four minutes left, San Juan felt the heat as Mindoro drilled in four straight triples, the first by Jonas Tibayan and the rest by Wendelino Comboy, against the Knights' four points and threatened at 72-75 with 43.6 seconds to go.

Dexter Maiquez, however, came to the rescue, grabbing the rebound following a missed jumper by Orlan Wamar and driving in with 16.5 ticks remaining to secure the Knights' second straight win in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.

The Tamaraws sued for time but failed to execute their final plays and tumbled to a 1-4 record.

Michael Calisaan, who towed San Juan to its biggest spread at 69-54, emerged best player with 17 points, including six in the fourth quarter, 8 rebounds and 2 assists.

Other Knights who shone for Coach Alex Angeles were Maiquez with 15 points and 7 rebounds, homegrown John Galinato with 14 points and 3 rebounds, and Wamar with 11 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.

Comboy delivered 18 points, all from triples, Tibayan 14 points, spiked by three triples, and RJ Ramirez 12 points, laced by two triples, for the Tamaraws, who are on a three-game skid.

Biñan Tatak Gel trounced Ilagan Isabela, 87-77, in the nightcap and climbed to 2-3.

Powered by Kenney Roger Rocacurva and Christian Fajarito, Biñan led by as many as 79-63 in notching its second win in five outings.

Rocacurva wound up with 17 points and 11 boards to clinch best player honors over Fajarito, who notched 15 points and 2 rebounds.

They were supported by Renzo Subido with 11 points and Kristan Hernandez with 10 points pus 4 rebounds.  Carlo Lastimosa chipped in 9 points. Jeric James Pido 8 points, and Jaymar Gimpayan had 6 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Ilagan Isabela fell to 2-3 despite Joshua Gallano's 19-point, 9-rebound, 4-assist effort. Top Gun Arth Dela Cruz tallied 7 assists and 5 rebounds and Joshua Guiab 12 points plus 2 rebounds for the Cowboys.

Zamboanga SIKAT handed Bulacan another crushing defeat, 99-56, to gain traction in the opener.
All 14 players fielded by Coach Bong Ramos scored as Zamboanga led by as far as 97-54 and cruised to a 3-1 card.

Roi Sumang paced Zamboanga with 13 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, then Michael Are with 12 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, and John Paul Cauilan with 10 points and 3 assists.

With 6-foot-6 Paul Turco snaring 10 rebounds and 6-foot-4 John Edcel Rojas grabbing 7, Zamboanga ruled the boards, 52-49, and exploited this edge to tally 42 points in the paint against Bulacan's 26.

Zamboanga also forced Bulacan to commit 20 turnovers that paved the way for 30 points. In contrast, Bulacan only tallied 10 points from Zamboanga's 10 turnovers.

Bulacan slumped to 0-5 and is the worst-performing team thus far, yielding an average of 102.6 points to its opponents and scoring 69 points per game for a losing average margin of 33.6.

The MPBL returns to the Caloocan Sports Complex on Friday with another triple-header pitting Quezon Province against Marikina at 4 p.m., Pampanga against Paranaque at 6 p.m., and Caloocan against Pasay at 8 p.m.