The Quezon City Black Bulls and the Basilan Steel bested separate rivals to gain momentum heading to the play-in of the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season at the Paco Arena in Manila.

Quezon City leaned on two charities by Val Chauca with 4.7 seconds left to nip Pasig City, 89-88, in the nightcap, while Basilan exploited the absence of Meycauayan Marilao’s top gunners to prevail, 81-76, in the second game of another triple-bill in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 26-team tournament.

Pasig had a chance to reverse the outcome, but Michael Lambino opted to pass instead of firing a shot at the buzzer, enabling Quezon City to raise its record to 11-14 in the North division.

The Black Bulls, led by Kobe Monje and Jessie Sumoda, share the eighth spot with the Bataan Risers and will advance to the play-in among the teams ranked seventh to 10th after the eliminations to decide the North’s last two playoff qualifiers.

Monje tallied 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists, but yielded the SportsPlus Best Player honors to the 6-foot-5 Sumoda, who notched 19 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Pasig slid to an 11-13 slate despite Jacob Galicia’s 24 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks; Keith Pido’s 15 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds; Jerome Garcia’s 12 points and five rebounds; and Warlo Batac’s 14 points, five assists and four rebounds.