ONE side takes the last quarterfinals ticket while the other kisses the season goodbye as NorthPort and Terrafirma duke it out in a knockout duel at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium Wednesday.
The Batang Pier and the Dyip fight for their lives at 7:30 p.m. with the winner catching the last trip to the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs, joining outright qualifiers San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra, Meralco, TNT, Rain or Shine, NLEX and Magnolia.
The NorthPort-Terrafirma KO match became necessary after the two teams ended up tied at eighth with the same 5-6 win-loss record at the close of the one-round-robin elimination phase.
After the Batang Pier drew level with a fifth win on a 115-113 nail-biter over the Blackwater Bossing, the Dyip bungled their last crack at an outright playoffs entry on a 108-100 drubbing by the Magnolia Hotshots.
And thus they set out for battle one more time to determine the eighth seed.
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Things will not be easy for the winner afterwards as the eighth seed takes on the twice-to-beat top seed San Miguel Beer in the quarterfinals.
But both sides are determined to go for it and be in the playoffs picture.
It could well be a dogfight just as what they'd gone through in their elims duel.
The Dyip then banked on Stephen Holt's go-ahead layup and a game-saving defensive stop in the last 3.1 seconds to squeeze out a 110-108 decision.
Incidentally, it's Terrafirma's first win in eight face-offs with NorthPort over the last four years.
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Holt is expected to be the lead guy once again for Terrafirma as they try to send the franchise back to the playoffs for the first time in a long while.
Others expected to play key roles for the Dyip are Juami Tiongson, Javi Gomez de Liano, Kemark Carino, Louie Sangalang and Isaac Go versus the Batang Pier tipped to be led by Arvin Tolentino, William Navarro and Joshua Munzon.(SB)
