THE San Juan Knights banked on Gerry Abadiano and Harold Alarcon to complete a come-from-behind 68-66 squeaker over the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo in the knockout semifinals of the 2026 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan.
Abadiano scored six, including the deciding three-point play, and Alarcon added five as the Knights jumped out of a 57-64 hole to repeat over the Batang Kankaloo and arrange a sudden-death with the Abra Solid North Weavers on Thursday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan.
Alarcon wound up with 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, and clinched the SportsPlus best player honors over fellow former University of the Philippines Fighting Maroon Abadiano, who finished with 11 points, eight in the fourth quarter and three rebounds.
It was a brilliant comeback for San Juan, which trailed by as far as 11-28 and only seized control at 66-65 following Alarcon’s two charities.
Dom Escobar gave Caloocan back the lead with two charities, but Abadiano defied two defenders to drill in the jumper and draw a foul with 13.9 seconds left.
Caloocan had two chances to either tie or reverse the outcome, but Escobar missed on a fallaway and Jielo Razon also muffed a three-pointer, allowing the Knights to duplicate their 65-59 victory over the Batang Kankaloo in the Group B round-robin elimination phase.
Michael Calisaan also shone for San Juan with seven points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Caloocan got 10 points each from Jeramer Cabanag and Joco Tayongtong, and nine from Baclaan.