By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Bacolod City Tubo Slashers sustained a heart-breaking 60-58 defeat to the Batangas City Tanduay Rhum Masters in the 2025 MPBL Season at the Batangas City Coliseum on Monday night, August 11.

Mark Neil Cruz was the difference maker for Batangas as he connected a putback off a miss by a teammate to give his squad the upperhand with less than a second in the game.

The Tubo Slashers still had a chance to force an extension with 0.3 seconds left.

However, Mark Malazarte was unable to receive the ball off an inbound.

Jaycee Adjei also missed a basket at the buzzer.

Levi Hernandez and Cedrick Ablaza had an identical production of 14 points and six rebounds each for the Tanduay Rhum Masters, which hiked their win-loss record to 13-8.

Bacolod held the lead in the first three quarters before Batangas went on a 12-0 blast in the final quarter to establish a 62-56 advantage courtesy of an Ablaza hit.

The Tubo Slashers responded with their own run to take a 58-56 advantage after a basket by Adjei, but the Tanduay Rhum Masters netted back-to-back hits from Levi Hernandez and Cruz to take a 60-58 edge.

Adjei and Mark Dubouzet finished with 13 points apiece, while Malazarte chipped in 11 markers as the Tubo Slashers fell to a 3-19 record./ASC, WDJ