Heroic shots came one after the other in the Rizal-Batangas encounter Friday night, March 21. In the end, Keanu Caballero's buzzer-beater halfcourt heave stood out as it lifted the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers past the Batangas City Tanduay Rhum Masters, 87-86, in the MPBL 2025 Season at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Before that, Jong Baloria completed a four-point play and Cedrick Ablaza made his first free throw to hand Batangas back the lead, 86-84, with 4.8 seconds left.

Ablaza missed the second, allowing Rizal's Michael Canete to grab the rebound and flick the ball to the speeding Caballero who had to let it fly approaching the midcourt marker.

The stunner handed the Golden Coolers their third straight win and a share of the top spot with the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards and the Pampanga Giant Lanterns, who rallied to beat the GenSan Warriors, 76-73, earlier in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.

Down by five with 47.8 seconds to go, the Rhum Masters struck through clutch triples by Justine Dela Virgen and Ablaza against a layup by Rizal's Robin Nayve and threatened at 81-84. Nayve then canned two free throws, but nearly turned goat when he fouled Baloria while firing a triple.

Rizal's Eric Camson clinched best player honors with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Other Golden Coolers who delivered were Canete with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, Alwyn Alday with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal, Neil Tolentino with 11 points, and Nayve with 10 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Caballero settled for 8 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds, but got all the accolades from his teammates and Rizal fans and supporters.

Batangas, which tumbled to 1-2, got 22 points plus 2 rebounds from Levi Hernandez, 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals from Ablaza, and 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the seesaw battle marked by 25 lead changes and 15 ties.

Rizal's rise overshadowed defending champion Pampanga's climb from a 60-69 hole in the final 4 minutes and 35 seconds to frustrate the Warriors.

A closing 16-4 Pampanga spurt fueled by Jhaymo Eguilos, John Lloyd Clemente and Archie Concepcion pulled down GenSan to 2-1.

Clemente was chosen as the best player with 14 points and 3 rebounds, followed by Eguilos with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists and Concepcion with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Other Giant Lanterns who sparkled were Renz Palma with 8 points and 13 rebounds, and Chris Lalata with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

GenSan got a career-high 32 points plus 5 assists from Mark Cruz and 10 points, 3 rebounds plus 2 assists from Anthony Bringas, and 4 points plus 10 rebounds from Felix Apreku.

Dominant underneath, 54-40, Pampanga scored 44 points in the paint against 18 for GenSan, which drilled in 13 triples against 3 for Pampanga.

Quezon City Galeries Taipan outgunned Sarangani from afar and won, 84-76, in the opener to climb to 2-1.

The Taipans, led by Jayson Puray and Jason Strait, drilled in 10 triples from 36 tries against only two for the Gripper from 27 attempts to sway the balance.

Puray tallied 3 triples while Strait made two for the Taipans, who got outrebounded (69-57) but compensated by forcing the Grippers to more turnovers (19-11) and having more steals (11-4).

The lanky 6-foot-4 Strait posted 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists and was chosen best player over Jerome Santos, who notched 10 points and 4 rebounds; Vincent Cunanan, who chalked 10 points and 4 rebounds; Puray, who notched 9 points and 4 rebounds; and Franz Diaz, who tallied 9 points, 3 points and 2 assists.

Sarangani briefly led at 42-41 following two free throws by Jeymark Mallari with 3 minutes and 12 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Quezon City, however, countered with a 15-point binge sandwiched by Jerome Santos' two triples against a charity by Coy Alvez and surged ahead, 55-43, with 27.4 seconds left.

The Grippers suffered their fourth straight defeat despite Mallari's 22-point, 7-assist, 5-rebound, 2-steal effort, Arvie Bringas' 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Larce Sunga's 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The MPBL visits the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City on Saturday with games pitting Imus against Zamboanga at 4 p.m., Pangasinan against Isabela at 6 p.m., and Quezon Province against Binan at 8 p.m.