The Mindoro Tamaraws nipped the Cebu Greats, 92-89, in their play-in encounter on Monday, Oct. 6, to clinch the eighth and last playoff beth in the South Division of the Manny Pacquiao Presents MPBL Season at the Pola Gymnasium in Oriental Mindoro.
Ino Comboy and Joseph Sedurifa atoned for their 2-point showing in a 62-68 loss to Zamboanga SiKat on Monday held at the same venue.
Comboy clustered 9 points in the homestretch, while Sedurifa canned the two insurance free throws that pushed the Tamaraws to the playoffs against the Quezon Huskers, the South Division top qualifier.
Comboy posted 18 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, 4 rebounds and 4 assists to emerge best player over Bam Gamalinda, who tallied 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
Jonas Tibayan barreled his way to 12 points and 6 rebounds in the first half as the Tamaraws clung to a 41-39 lead.
Wearing a shield to protect his face injured by a sucker punch from GenSan’s Michole Sorela in August, Tibayan wound up with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sedurifa finished with 10 points and 6 assists for the Tamaraws.
Cebu drew 15 points and 5 rebounds from Paul Desiderio, 12 points and 7 assists from Jun Manzo, 11 points and 16 rebounds from Mark Meneses, 14 points and 7 rebounds from Limuel Tampus, and 10 points from JR Quinahan.
Back-to-back triples by Paul Desiderio pushed Cebu ahead, 62-60, but Bam Gamalinda knotted the third quarter count with an inside thrust.
Leading his townmates in cheering for the Mindoro Tamaraws was team owner Mayor Jennifer “Ina Alegre” Cruz.
Cebu beat Mindoro, 85-73, in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team, 2-division tournament.
The MPBL concludes the elimination round on Wednesday, with the last play-in game between the Isabela Ilagan Cowboys and the Bataan Risers at 6 p.m. at The Capital Arena in Ilagan, Isabela.
