BINAN foiled Batangas' last-ditch assault and prevailed, 72-67, on Thursday to move within a win of the South Division finals in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
The Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters clustered 11 points to draw level at 60, but Kenny Roger Rocacurva, Marc Pingris and Carlo Lastimosa struck back for Binan Tatak Gel, 66-62, with 2 minutes and 56 seconds to go.
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Cedric Ablaza drove in to push Batangas within 64-66, but Jaymar Gimpayan rose to the challenge and bunched 6 points to seal the outcome, 72-64, only 9.2 seconds left.
Rocacurva posted 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Lastimosa 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, and Gimpayan 8 points plus 3 assists.
Binan controlled the first half, leading by as many as 22-11 before Batangas rallied through Jong Baloria and Ablaza to cut the deficit at 33-30 at the buzzer.
Batangas seized control at 42-37 only to be stifled by Rocacurva, who poured in 11 points as Binan restored order, 52-42.
The Rum Masters got 15 points and 4 rebounds from Baloria, 14 points and 5 rebounds from Ablaza, 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists from Levi Hernandez, and 10 points plus 4 rebounds from Joshua Torralba.
The North Division semifinals continue on Wednesday, with games pitting Caloocan against Abra at 6 p.m., and Pangasinan against San Juan at 8 p.m. at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Abra and Pangasinan won the series openers and would arrange a best-of-five division finals if they repeat over their opponents.
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