Abra Solid North extended its winning streak to a record 26, while Caloocan clinched the last outright playoff berth on Tuesday at the close of the Manny Pacquiao Presents MPBL 2025 Season round-robin elimination phase at the Robert Estrella Sr. Memorial Gymnasium in Rosales, Pangasinan.
The Weavers battered undermanned Mindoro, 104-82, in the opener to surpass the 25 straight victories it shared with Nueva Ecija and rise to 28-1 – also an all-time league best – in the North Division of the 30-team tournament.
Caloocan banked on Jeff Manday to nip Pangasinan, 77-74, in the second game and improve to 21-8, good for the sixth spot in the North and a best-of-three playoff tussle with No. 3 San Juan.
Pangasinan skidded to 20-9 and the seventh spot, relegating the Heatwaves to a play-in encounter with No. 8 Ilagan Isabela at the same venue on Thursday.
Manday scored six of Caloocan’s last 8 points as the Batang Kankaloo overturned a 69-71 deficit following a triple by Pangasinan’s JP Maguliano.
The Batang Kankaloo got 12 points plus three rebounds from Rommel Calahat; 11 points, six rebounds and three assists from Cris Bitoon; and 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals from Manday.
The Pangasinan Heatwaves drew 11 points from Allyn Bulanadi, whose buzzer-beating triple attempt went short, and 10 points plus eight rebounds from Maguliano.
Encho Serrano, John Uduba and Dave Ildefonso delivered the most as the Weavers gifted their head coach, Yong Garcia, with another easy victory.
Serrano posted 29 points, 11 rebounds and four assists; Uduba 21 points and 10 rebounds; and Ildefonso 21 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals for the Weavers, who clustered 15 points to seal the outcome, 96-71.
The Tamaraws fell to 15-14, but kept the eighth spot in the South Division.
Mindoro got 17 points from RJ Ramirez; 15 from Ethan Galang; 14 from Marion Magat; and 12 from homegrown Hanz Philip Maycong.
Opting to conserve its strength for the play-in against Zamboanga Sikat on October 4., Mindoro did not field starters Ino Comboy, Bam Gamalinda and Joseph Sedurifa, role player Jeco Bancale and veteran Ken Bono.
The league returns to the Estrella Gymnasium on Thursday, October 2, with play-in games pitting Pasig against Bataan at 4 p.m. and Pangasinan against Ilagan, Isabela, at 6 p.m.