Warriors hang tough, escape Batang Kankaloo
JOSHUA Fontanilla and the Gensan Warriors refuse to quit, eking out an 85-82 win over the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo in the MPBL 2026 Season on Tuesday.
PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of MPBL
JOSHUA Fontanilla and the Gensan Warriors refuse to quit, eking out an 85-82 win over the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo in the MPBL 2026 Season on Tuesday.
PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of MPBL
The Gensan Warriors kept their poise after yielding control and bested Caloocan Batang Kankaloo, 85-82, in the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season at the Caloocan Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Staring at a 75-81 deficit after leading 73-68 early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors tightened their defense and bundled six points to knot the count at 81, with 45.1 seconds left.
Gensan’s Joshua Fontanilla, however, converted two charities, and Larry Rodriguez scored on a fastbreak for the final count, as Caloocan’s Jeff Manday missed a hurried three-pointer with 6.7 seconds to go.
The Warriors raised their record to 15-4 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 26-team tournament and occupied the fourth spot in the South division, behind Batangas City (15-3), Quezon Province (13-3), and Binan (17-4).
Fontanilla, former star of St. Clare College of Caloocan, notched 20 points, five assists and three rebounds to earn the SportsPlus Best Player honors over Adi Santos, who had 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
“We just did our best as we have only one goal (winning),” Fontanilla said.
Rodriguez wound up with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, followed by Hesed Gabo with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Kris Porter with nine points.
Caloocan, which dropped to 17-3 and third place in the North division, drew 19 points, including a perfect 12 of 12 free throws, nine assists, two rebounds and two steals from Kean Baclaan, 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals from Manday, 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals from Kymani Ladi and 11 points from Jeramer Cabanag.
Meanwhile, Zamboanga SiKat leaned on Brandon Wilson to nip Valenzuela City, 76-73, and rev up its playoff drive with an 8-12 slate.
Wilson tallied 25 points, nine rebounds and two assists, followed by Paeng Are with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Jayson Puray, with 10 points and three rebounds.
Exploiting its rebounding edge, 59-45, Zamboanga pulled away at 44-27 and foiled Valenzuela’s repeated rallies.
The Valenzuela Darkhorse tumbled to 9-13 despite Shaq Alanes’ 32 points, five rebounds and two assists, Jay Collado’s 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Nico Mamaradlo’s 14 points plus three rebounds.
