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| Carlo Lastimosa shines for Biñan Tatal Gel. MPBL |
MANILA—The Biñan Tatak Gel crawled out of a deep hole to nip Cebu 78-77 on Thursday in the SportsPlus MPBL 2026 Season at the jampacked Hoops Stadium in Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan.
Down by eight points with 4 minutes and 7 seconds to go, Biñan poured in 12 points against only three by Cebu to snatch its 12th straight win and climb to 14-3 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 27-team tournament.
Carlo Lastimosa presided over Biñan's fiery rally with four points in the last three minutes, including the marginal basket, while Jaymar Gimpayan and Pamboy Raymundo added 3 points each, and Nic Cabanero two.
It was Kenny Rocacurva, however, who captured the SportsPlus best player honors with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 assists in 28 minutes and 49 seconds of play.
"We just played our game and caught up with Cebu's defense," said Rocacurva, a Cebuano from San Francisco, Camotes Islands.
Cabanero posted 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, Lastimosa 12 points and 4 rebounds, and Gimpayan 12 points plus 2 assists for Biñan, which caught up with Gensan and moved closer to Batangas City (14-2), which beat Basilan Steel 87-71 in the first game, and Quezon Province (12-2) in the South division playoff race.
The Cebu Greats fell to 14-4 despite Jun Manzo's 23 points, spiked by five triples, and 2 assists, and Mark Meneses' 13 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.
The Batangas City Tanduay Athletics pulled away 84-61 with a 19-4 salvo sparked by Rhinwill Yambing and Ino Comboy en route to their 12th straight win.
Jhan Nermal paced Batangas with 23 points, including three triples, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, followed by Comboy with 19 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.
Apart from Nermal, who earned best player honors, and Comboy, who drilled in five triples, other Athletics who shone were Yambing with 11 points and 2 rebounds, and Kraniel Viloria, with 8 points and 4 rebounds.
"Our focus is really on defense and executing our plays," Nermal said.
"We're not thinking about being No. 1, but about our upcoming games."
Basilan, which tumbled to 8-10, drew 12 points from Neil Owens, 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals from John Wilson, and 9 points plus 5 assists from Gab Cometa.
Cebu will try to bounce back on Saturday, when it tangles with Caloocan at 8 p.m. at the Cebu Coliseum.
Mindoro and Zamboanga SiKat clash at 5 p.m., after which Cebuano players who have made their mark in local basketball will be honored by the MPBL.
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