Caloocan trounced Cebu, 89-76, to bolster its bid for the top spot in the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season at the Cebu Coliseum on Saturday.

Powered by Jeff Manday, Jammer Jamito and Kymani Ladi, the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo surged ahead, 49-26, en route to their 16th win against two losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 27-team tournament.

Caloocan trailed defending champion Abra Solid North (14-1) and San Juan (14-1) in the North division race for playoff spots.

The six-foot Manday, a prized find from Bacolod City, posted 15 points, including three triples, 14 rebounds, eight assists and two steals to clinch the SportsPlus Best Player honors over Jamito, with 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Ladi, with 17 points, spiked by four triples, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

"We stayed composed even with the highly physical plays of the Greats in their homecourt," said Manday, who also helped shut down the Cebu gunners.

Eric Camson also shone for Caloocan with 10 points and five rebounds, followed by Dom Escobar, with seven points and two rebounds, and Kean Baclaan, with six points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Cebu tumbled to 14-5 and the fifth spot in the South division despite Mark Menses' 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

The Cebu Greats are behind the Batangas City Tanduay Athletics (14-2), the Quezon Huskers (12-2), the Gensan Warriors (14-3) and Biñan Tatak Gel (14-3), which rallied from eight points down in the last four minutes to stun Cebu, 78-77, last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Mindoro survived harrowing charity misses to nip Zamboanga SiKat, 83-80, in the opener to rev up its playoff drive.

Ahead by as far as 64-38, the Mindoro Tamaraws had to fend off the Zamboanguenos' fiery rally in the fourth quarter to chalk up their eighth win in 16 starts.

The Tamaraws' Brian Heruela missed three free throws and Joseph Sedurifa two, in the homestretch, giving Zamboanga the chance to equalize.

Zamboanga's Levi Hernandez and Forthsky Padrigao, however, missed their triple tries owing to the tough defense put up by Mindoro, with neither team scoring in the last 2:53.

With Hernandez drilling in three triples, Reggz Gabat two, and Brandon Wilson one, Zamboanga crawled out of a 72-52 hole after three quarters to peg the final count.

Bambam Gamalinda paced Mindoro with 14 points and eight rebounds, but RJ Ramirez was chosen the Best Player with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.