Streaking Binan Tatak Gel withstood Basilan’s final assault and prevailed, 68-66, Thursday night to gain ground in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-MPBL 2025 Season at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.
Ahead by nine points with 2 minutes and 2 seconds left, the Lagunenses went silent while the Basilan Viva Portmasters bunched seven points, highlighted by back-to-back triples by Sherwin Concepcion and Alex Cabagnot, to threaten at 66-68 with 32.5 seconds to go.
With time down to seven seconds, Binan’s Carlo Lastimosa got fouled, missed his two free throws, but atoned by grabbing the offensive rebound and securing Binan’s sixth straight win for a 7-3 slate in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
In other games, the Gensan Warriors trounced the Davao Occidental Tigers, 107-86, and climbed to the upper half with a 6-5 slate, while the Muntinlupa Cagers battered the Paranaque Patriots, 83-60, in the opener to climb to 8-2.
Beaten off the boards, 44-59, Basilan tumbled to 3-7 despite Alex Cabagnot’s 16 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists; Emman Calo’s 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Portmasters also got 9 points each from Concepcion and Adi Santos.
Kyle Tolentino shone for GenSan with 22 points, spiked by five triples, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Joe Lee Yu provided support with 17 points, laced by 4 triples, and so did Val Acuna with 14 points, and Larry Rodriguez with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Powered by Dom Matillano, the Cagers erected a 73-45 spread after three quarters and never let up to notch
Muntinlupa caught up with Quezon Province and trailed Abra and Pampanga (both 9-1), San Juan (9-0) and Nueva Ecija (10-0) in the chase for playoff spots.
