The South Cotabato Warriors relied on a huge endgame run to defeat the Biñan Tatak Gel Beast Motorcycle GameX 85-82 in Game 1 of the MPBL Southern Division quarterfinals on Thursday night at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Down 76-82 with over two minutes left, Mark Cruz stepped up with a two-pointer and a triple to cut the deficit to 81-82 before they took an 83-82 lead on a basket from Jammer Jamito.
South Cotabato then increased the lead to 85-82 on split free throws by Felix Apreku and Marwin Dionisio before they prevented the three-point attempt of Biñan’s Robbie Manalang.
Cruz finished with 24 points on a perfect 6-of-6 field goal shooting to go with three assists and two rebounds in 20 minutes of action to be named Player of the Game for the Warriors.
“Nag usap kami nung halftime na hindi enough ‘yung aggressiveness nung first half, and mas ginusto lang naming manalo nung second half, and good thing nanalo kami,” Cruz said. “Total team effort talaga ito, hindi lang sa akin.”
Jamito added 16 markers and five rebounds, while Hezy Val Acuna contributed 14 points for South Cotabato.
Kenny Rogers Rocacurva led Biñan with 24 points, six rebounds, and four steals, while John Murphy Raymundo and Carlo Lastimosa ended with 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
Meanwhile, Batangas City Tanduay Rhum Masters also secured a series-opener win over the Davao Occidental Tigers-Cocolife, 76-66. Levi Hernandez top-scored for Batangas City with 21 points.
The post South Cotabato upsets Biñan, takes 1-0 lead in MPBL playoffs first appeared on Fastbreak.
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