The Explorers ended their classification round campaign tied with the Iligan Crusaders at 8-3 but gained the second seeding through the win-over-the-other rule.
The Explorers trailed in the first half, but used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to turn the game around.
Over at the San Juan gym in Manila, NBC executive vice president and Mayor Bambol Tolentino’s Batang Tagaytay squad turned back Bacchus/Harbour Centre, 70-64, to improve its record to 5-5.
MJ Caceres played his best game so far to give Tagaytay the victory.
Bacchus/Harbour dropped to 6-5, behind the northern division’s No. 1 seed Spring-Parañaque, in the tourney sponsored by Panasonic, Sulpicio Lines, Nature’s Spring Mineral Water, Spring Cooking Oil, Regent Foods, Firefly Lightings, Molten and Prime Channel.
Behind 46-48, the Explorers rallied behind ex-pros Bong Marata and Peter Naron to seize 56-48 lead with 6:25 remaining.
The Warriors failed to come back in the face of Pagadian’s stiff defense.
Naron paced Pagadian with 28 points while Ping Daja produced a double-double game of 16 points and 11 rebounds.