The Quezon Huskers thwarted the Gensan Warriors’ repeated rallies and prevailed, 95-85, on Tuesday to advance to the South Division Finals of the MPBL 2025 Season at the steamy Batangas City Coliseum.
LJay Gonzales, Gab Banal and Alfrancis Tamsi provided the sustaining firepower for the Huskers, who swept the Warriors, 2-0, in the best-of-three semifinal series and would be defending their division crown.
Gonzales fired 8 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, where the Warriors moved to within 82-85 following back-to-back triples by Kyle Tolentino and Jack Corpuz.
Tamsi knocked in a triple and homegrown Emman Tagle drove in, however, to quell Gensan’s final assault.
Unlike in Game One, which Quezon handily won, 103-75, Gensan came up ready this time, even taking a 20-12 lead in the first quarter through the efforts of Corpuz, Tolentino and Nico Elorde.
Quezon, however, tied the halftime count at 46 behind Will Gozum, Judel Fuentes and RJ Minerva, to the delight of the thousands of fans who endured the heat as the air conditioning system broke down.
The cumulative effect of the warm bodies and the lack of ventilation made the playing court very slippery, prompting Binan to request that its game against Batangas be postponed. Binan was ahead, 13-7, when the game was halted.
MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes decided that the Binan-Batangas tussle will be held on Friday at a venue yet to be announced. Under FIBA rules, the game will start anew at 0-0.
