At A Glance
- Basilan Steel pounded the boards and subdued Imus Yangkee, 98-88, on Monday, June 22, to level its slate in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Jan Jamon is one of Basilan's dependable recruits. (MPBL Images)
Basilan Steel pounded the boards and subdued Imus Yangkee, 98-88, on Monday, June 22, to level its slate in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Basilan, with Jervy Cruz at the helm, outrebounded Imus, 63-42, and exploited this to make more field goals, 36-32, including from beyond the arc, 12-10, and improve its record to 7-7 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.
Resurgent John Wilson paced Basilan with 24 points, spiked by four triples, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, followed by Ralph Robin, with 14 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and Joshua Marcos, with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Former San Beda point guard Kenneth Mocon was chosen the SportsPlus best player with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Cruz also shone with 5 points and 12 rebounds.
Imus absorbed its 10th straight loss and tumbled to 2-12 in the chase for playoff spots.
The Yangkee drew 18 points and 9 rebounds from Joseph Mark Marquez, 16 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds from homegrown Janjan Salazar, 15 points and 8 rebounds from Jordan Rios, and 10 points and 3 rebounds from Noel Santos.
The tournament returns to the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna, on Tuesday, featuring games between Caloocan and Manila at 4 p.m., Bulacan and Cebu at 6 p.m., and Paranaque and Ilagan Isabela at 8 p.m.