MANILA, Philippines — Binan and Mindoro won in contrasting fashion on Monday in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Villar Coliseum in Las Pinas.
Binan Tatak Gel leaned on Carlo Lastimosa and Nic Cabanero to trounce Valenzuela City, 102-74, while the Mindoro Tamaraws banked on a turnaround fall-away jumper by Brian Heruela with 1.3 seconds left to nip the Meycauayan Marilao Gems, 84-82, in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 27-team tournament.
The Gems had a chance to reverse the outcome, but the ball slipped off Jayson Apolonio's hands after he soared for an alley-oop from an inbound pass by Robin Nayve.
Homegrown Jayjay Caspe led the Tamaraws to an even 9-9 record with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, clinching the Best Player accolade over Bambam Gamalinda, who had 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, and JC Recto with 11 points plus two assists.
"We really needed this win because of the (close) standings," said Caspe, who hails from Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.
Heruela finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists, followed by Joseph Sedurifa with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists; and John Apacible with 10 points and four rebounds, to the delight of Mindoro Tamaraws team owner Pola Mayor Jennifer "Ina Alegre" Cruz.
The Gems skidded to 10-9 despite Agem Miranda's 20 points, five assists, and three rebounds; Apolonio's 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals; and Shawn Argente's 10 points plus four rebounds.
Lastimosa tallied a career-high 32 points — spiked by five triples — with two assists and two rebounds, while Cabanero posted 22 points and nine rebounds to power Binan to its 13th straight win and a 16-3 slate.
Binan led throughout as it displaced Gensan (14-3) at third place in the South Division, where it trails Batangas City (15-2) and Quezon Province (13-2) in the race for playoff spots.
Lastimosa captured Best Player honors over Cabanero, who struggled from long distance, making only one of six attempts.
Other Binan players who delivered were Warren Bonifacio, Jaymar Gimpayan and Michael Mabulac with six points each.
Valenzuela, which fell to 9-12, drew 17 points from Angelo Obuyes; 14 from Nico Mamaradlo; and 10 points plus six rebounds from Jay Collado.
With Lastimosa and Cabanero outscoring the entire Valenzuela crew with 14 and 6 points, respectively, Binan led as far as 81-47, late in the third quarter.
Sarangani 10ACT drubbed Manila Batang Quiapo, 113-92, in the nightcap to improve to 4-16.
Migs Pascual powered the Marlins with 21 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals; Ken Brillantes finished with 19 points and nine rebounds; and Andrei Duremdes tallied 14 points and 5 rebounds.
Manila, which sank to 2-17, got 24 points and 10 rebounds from Alfred Sedillo. Mark Doligon recorded 17 points, four rebounds and four assists.
The tournament returns to the Pasay Astrodome on Tuesday, featuring games between Bacolod and Bulacan at 3 p.m.; Zamboanga and Paranaque at 5 p.m.; and Pasay and Batangas City at 7 p.m. (Pool story)