MANILA, Philippines — The Valenzuela Darkhorse went full throttle in the second half to rout the Negros Hacienderos, 85-67, on Thursday and gain traction in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Barely ahead, 39-37, at the break, Valenzuela got the push from Shaq Alanes, Lester Reyes and Jay Collado to pull away, 67-48, after three quarters en route to its second straight win after back-to-back losses in the two-division, 28-team tournament.
Alanes tallied 14 points, laced by three triples, 5 rebounds and 3 assists to edge JR Olegario, with 14 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds, and Angelo Obuyes, with 14 points and 3 rebounds, for the SportsPlus best player honors.
Geremy Robinson Jr. also shone for the Darkhorse with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and so did Lester Reyes with 8 points, highlighted by two triples.
With Alanes hitting 3 of 4 and Reyes going 2 for 2, the Darkhorse converted 9 of 20 shots from long distance for a 45 percent accuracy.
"We're just following the system of Coach (Estong Ballesteros)," said Alanes, former star of the Lyceum Pirates. "He wants us to stay hungry. We're just helping each other out."
Negros suffered its third straight defeat as only Jan Formento, who scored 18 points, had 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, and Carl Joshua Alattica, who contributed 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks, struck back.
The MPBL returns to the Alonte Sports Arena on Friday, featuring games between Meycauayan Marilao and Quezon Province at 4 p.m., Marikina and Caloocan at 6 p.m., and host Binan against Basilan at 8 p.m. TMT
