The Caloocan Batang Kankaloo pounded the Valenzuela City Darkhorse without letup and prevailed, 97-58, to grab the solo lead in the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season on Tuesday at the Caloocan Sports Complex.

Exploiting their height and heft advantage, the Batang Kankaloo dominated the boards, 53-38, and converted this to more points in the paint, 46-24, and more second-chance points, 27-6, that shoved them to their eighth straight win in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.

The Batang Kankaloo also applied constant pressure, forcing the Darkhorse to commit 18 turnovers that paved the way for more fastbreak points, 26-8, and a huge 90-48 spread with 5:33 left.

Kymani Ladi stood out for Caloocan with 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists, edging Jeff Manday, with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, for the SportsPlus Best Player honors.

Rommel Calahat contributed 11 points and four rebounds, Jammer Jamito 10 points and six rebounds, and Antonio Bonsubre four points, 10 rebounds and two blocks as the Batang Kankaloo moved ahead of the Gensan Warriors (7-0) and gained distance from the Quezon Huskers (5-0).

Valenzuela fell to 4-4 as only Jay Collado struck back with 13 points and six rebounds.

Meanwhile, Cebu sustained its climb with a 96-77 beating of Zamboanga SiKat in the opener, while Quezon City regained traction with a 96-87 victory over Ilagan Isabela in the second game.