Binan escapes Basilan in MPBL

MANILA, Philippines — 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 2:02 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 for it 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.

Lastimosa tallied 12 points, four rebounds and two assists, but Kristan Hernandez clinched Best Player honors with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Kenny Roger Rocacurva provided support with 10 points and three rebounds.

Beaten off the boards, 44-59, Basilan tumbled to 3-7 despite Alex Cabagnot's 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists; and Emman Calo's 16 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Portmasters also got nine points each from Concepcion and Adi Santos.

Meanwhile, the Gensan Warriors trounced the Davao Occidental Tigers, 107-86, and climbed to the upper half with a 6-5 slate.

Kyle Tolentino shone for GenSan with 22 points, spiked by five triples, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Joe Lee Yu provided support with 17 points, laced by four triples, and so did Val Acuna with 14 points, and Larry Rodriguez with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Davao, which dropped to 3-4, got 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks from Jefferson Comia; 14 points, six assists and two rebounds from Valandre Chauca; 11 points, four rebounds and four assists from Terrence Tumalip; and 11 points plus three rebounds from Tricky Dyn Peromingan.

The Muntinlupa Cagers battered the Paranaque Patriots, 83-60, in the opener to climb to 8-2.

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.

Matillano, who posted 22 points, highlighted by six triples, five assists and four triples, was supported by Patrick Ramos, Kurt Lojera and Mart James Barrera with nine points each. Mark Sarangay contributed seven points and 10 rebounds.

With Matillano making 6-of-10 attempts, the Cagers drilled in 15-of-37 for a 40.5% conversion rate against only 22.7% (5-of-22) for the Patriots, who skidded to 1-7.

Paranaque drew 20 points and 15 rebounds from Alvin Capobres; 11 points plus eight rebounds from Deo Timajo; and 12 points from homegrown Paolo Castro.

The MPBL goes to the Marikina Sports Complex on Friday with games pitting Manila against Imus at 4 p.m., Cebu against Mindoro at 6 p.m., and Marikina against Bulacan at 8 p.m.