Games Today (Filoil Flying V Arena)
2 p.m. AMA University vs CafeFrance
4 p.m. Tanduay vs Phoenix-FEU
Tanduay eyes a strong finish in the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup as it takes on Phoenix-FEU for its final elimination round game on Monday at San Juan Arena.
After falling 0-2 early in the conference, coach Lawrence Chongson’s crew has racked up five straight wins, and will be gunning for number six against the Accelerators.
“Malaking bagay ito kasi one loss nga, I don’t think makakapasok pa kami sa top four,” he said, following the Rhum Masters’ close 83-81 victory over BDO-NU on Thursday. “Lahat ng kaba ko, naubos na. Wala ng natira para sa Phoenix. Bring it on.”
The Accelerators, meanwhile, wants to slam the door shut on Tanduay and clinch a top four-seed in the process.
A Phoenix-FEU victory would dent the Rhum Masters’ chances of nabbing a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, and would rely on lowly AMA University beating UP QRS/JAM Liner on Thursday to claim the last spot.
Before the all-important tiff, the Accelerators dropped Ron Dennison in favor of former Caida winger Ryan Pascual and has also signed Yutien Andrada as the team’s 14th player.
Game time is at 4 p.m., following the duel between co-leader CafeFrance (5-1) and AMA (2-4) at 2 p.m.
The Titans are on a high following their second win, a 91-85 conquest over Mindanao, to book their spot in the quarterfinals.
However, the Bakers are aching to atone their 79-74 defeat to Tanduay last Monday, which snapped their five-game winning run.