THE San Juan Knights and the Pangasinan Heatwaves dispute the second North Division Finals berth at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the 747. LIVE presents Manny Pacquiao MPBL 2025 Season at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
San Juan trounced Pangasinan, 83-66, in Game Two to force the decider in their best-of-three semifinal series, with the winner advancing to the division finals against top seed Abra Solid North.
The Heatwaves stunned the Knights, 67-57, in Game One, only to lose their composure when San Juan surged ahead by as far as 69-33.
The highly physical encounter resulted to disqualifying fouls by Pangasinan’s Lawrence Victoria and Harvey Pagsanjan and San Juan’s Kenneth Villapando, who are all suspended for the do-or-die encounter.
Orlan Wamar, AC Soberano, Nikko Panganiban, Arvin Gamboa and Dexter Maiquez will banner the Knights, while Vic Manuel, Alyn Bulanadi, Jorey Napoles, Michael Mabulac and Hesed Gabo will power the Heatwaves.
Meanwhile, the halted Binan-Batangas Game 2 encounter will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at the Batangas Province Events Center in Batangas City.
Binan won Game One, 72-67, and was ahead in Game Two, 13-7, on Tuesday when it requested that the game be reset as the thousands of spectators and the breakdown of the Batangas City Coliseum’s air conditioning system had rendered the court very slippery and risky for the players.
MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes decided the new date and both Binan and Batangas concurred. Under the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) rules, Game 2 will restart at 0-0.
