By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association Governors’ Cup holds its final matches in the elimination round today with the San Miguel Beermen and Alaska Aces looking to pad their respective quarterfinal thrusts against separate opponents.
San Miguel (6-4) takes on the TNT KaTropa (7-3) in the scheduled 7 p.m. match at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City while Alaska (4-6) collides with the NLEX Road Warriors (8-2) at 4:30 p.m.
The Beermen shoot for the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals in their game against the KaTropa with the Aces gunning for outright entry to the quarters versus the Road Warriors.
Currently sitting at fifth place, San Miguel with a win over TNT moves into the top four, which will have the twice-to-beat incentive in the next round of the season-ending PBA tournament.
A victory by San Miguel creates a three-way logjam for the third spot among the Beermen, KaTropa and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings at 7-4.
Using the quotient system, if the Beermen beats the KaTropa in today’s game by 14 points or more they secure number three with Barangay Ginebra at number four and TNT at fifth. A loss by San Miguel though keeps it at number five and will have a twice-to-win disadvantage in the quarterfinals while pushing TNT to either number two or three depending on the outcome of the game between NLEX and Alaska.
The Aces, meanwhile, gain automatic entry into the quarterfinals as the seventh seed, edging the Northport Batang Pier (5-6) by virtue of a higher tiebreak quotient.
A loss, however, sends Alaska to a one-game playoff for the final quarterfinal spot against the outside looking in Columbian Dyip (4-7).
The Beermen are coming off a loss to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 91-85, on Nov. 9.
Alaska, for its part, is riding a three-game winning streak.
