Terrafirma, NorthPort in KO match for 8th seed
TERRAFIRMA and NorthPort collide to dispute the eighth and last spot of the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup quarterfinals today, May 8, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Dyip and the Batang Pier ended the single-round eliminations with identical 5-6 record, tied at eighth to ninth spots in the standings.
Tournament format calls for a knockout match when two teams end up tied for the no. 8 spot to determine, which squad will advance to the quarterfinals.
The do-or-die match starts at 7:30 p.m. with the winner earning the right to play top seed San Miguel Beer in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Dyip had their chance to secure an outright quarterfinal berth, but they fell short after bowing to the Magnolia Hotshots, 108-100, last week.
The Batang Pier on the other hand, just weeks back, were contending for the top 2 seeds that guaranteed twice-to-beat incentives after zooming to a 5-1 start.
But the Bonnie Tan-coached squad hit hard times after the All-Star break.
NorthPort went on to lose its last five games, and had to rely on Arvin Tolentino’s endgame heroics in its last game in the elims to elevate out a 115-113 win over Blackwater.
The Dyip scored a 110-108 escape act over the Batang Pier in their only face off this conference.
Terrafirma star Juami Tiongson admitted the no-tomorrow match is expected to be “a battle.”
And considering the Terrafirma’s last playoff appearance happened during the 2016 Governors’ Cup, the team intends to go all out in an effort to finally make it back to the postseason.
“We have to attack their big men and make sure our bigs get their touches on the post,” stressed Tiongson, who averages 21.1 points per contest in the elimination round.
More importantly, the sweet-shooting Terrafirma guard said they’ll have to make sure Tolentino gets really uncomfortable playing against the Dyip’s defense since the 6-foot-5 gunner is a deadly scorer.
Tolentino averages 22 points, 7.3 points and 4.2 rebounds, do-it-all numbers for the Batang Pier.
But he also had guys like Joshua Munzon, Will Navarro and even energetic rookies in Zav Lucero and Cade Flores, as well as guard Fran Yu as his strong support cast.
The Dyip, on the other hand, also has top rookie Stephen Holt leading the way behind his all-around numbers of 22.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 2.4 steals, along with Javi Gomez de Liano and big man Isaac Go.