Batangas sped away in the third quarter and withstood South Cotabato’s final assault to prevail, 81-79, force a Game 3 decider in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season South Division playoffs late Monday at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Trailing, 40-41, the Batangas Tanduay Rum Masters clustered 16 points, including two triples by Jong Baloria, to seize control with 6:24 left and held the wheel till the end of Game 2.
With Philip Paniamogan canning two free throws, the Rum Masters built their biggest buffer, 60-44, and went on to avenge their 76-87 loss to the Warriors in Game 1 of their best-of-three semifinal series.
Earlier, the Quezon Huskers called on Judel Fuentes to repel the Paranaque Patriots, 76-69, and advance to the South Finals via a two-game sweep.
Fuentes pumped in 10 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter as the Huskers duplicated their 75-62 victory in the series opener.
Now, all the Huskers need to do is wait for the winner between the Rum Masters and the Warriors in the sudden death slated at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the same venue.
South Cotabato crept to within 74-80, but MHJ Dela Virgen drove in and Baloria added a free throw to decide the outcome, 81-74, with 36.6 seconds left.
Christian Fajarito then scored for South Cotabato before Batangas’ Levi Hernandez missed two charities with 6.5 ticks to go and JP Calvo drilled in a buzzer-beater triple for the final count.
Hernandez posted 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks to clinch the Daily Fantasy best player honors over Baloria, who had 14 points, four assists, three rebounds, and two blocks, and Paniamogan, who tallied 13 points and four rebounds.
Other Rum Masters who delivered for Coach Cholo Villanueva were Dawn Ochea with seven points and seven rebounds, CJ Isit with seven points and four assists and Cedric Ablaza with six points, six rebounds and five assists.