BINAN Tatak Gel turned hot in the home stretch and subdued Batangas City Tanduay, 80-75, on Monday to advance to the South Division Finals of the MPBL 2025 Season at the Batangas Province Events Center.
Trailing, 61-67, with 4 minutes and 34 seconds left, Binan unloaded 14 points through Kenny Roger Rocacurva, Bam Lopez and Jaymar Gimpayan against a 3-pointer by Philip Paniamogan to seize control, 75-70, with 1 minute and 9 seconds left.
Binan vs Quezon in South Division finale
Jong Baloria and Ced Ablaza put Batangas to within 74-77, but Pamboy Raymundo sealed the 2-1 win in the best-of-three semifinal series with a triple, 80-74.
Binan advanced to the best-of-five South Finals against reigning division champion Quezon Province.
Rocacurva posted 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, but it was Bam Lopez who provided the big surprise with 13 points, 7 in the fourth quarter.
Raymundo atoned for his scoreless Game Two with 12 points, followed by Marc Pingris and Gimpayan with 11 each.
Batangas drew 15 points from John Baloria, 13 from John Ambulodto, 12 from Ced Ablaza and 9 from Joshua Torralba.
Binan stunned Batangas in Game One, 72-67, but yielded Game Two, 62-70, needing the decider.
Trailing, 45-53, Binan closed the third quarter with an 8-2 run to threaten at 55-53 after three quarters.
Ambulodto scored 9 points as Batangas led, 37-32, at halftime. Baloria, Ablaza and Torralba added 5 points each for the Rum Masters who poured in 24 in the paint.
The MPBL North Division Finals between Abra Solid North and Pangasinan begin on Wednesday at the Gov. Andres Bernos Memorial Gym in Bangued, Abra.
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