Che’Lu Bar, Go for Gold face lighter semis foes

MANILA, Philippines — Top teams Che’Lu Bar and Grill and Go for Gold aim to gain ground on lower-ranked foes Centro Escolar University and Marinerong Pilipino-Technological Institute of the Philippines, respectively, as they clash in the opener of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup semifinals at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig today.

The Revellers finished the elims with a three-game win streak to secure the top seed at 8-2, installing them as the favorites over the No. 4 Scorpions in their 4 p.m. encounter.

CEU actually routed Che’Lu Bar, 94-78, in their first meeting but the Revellers evened things up with a 105-80 rout in the second round elims then sustained their charge to emerge the top team going to the best-of-three semis.

Despite their streak, Che’Lu Bar coach Stevenson Tiu maintains they hold no edge over the Scorpions.

No. 2 Scratchers, meanwhile, square off with the third-seeded Engineers at 6 p.m., with the former out to re-assert their mastery over the latter which they swept in the elims.

“I’m happy that we’re on top, but in the semis, it’s all back to zero. No team is a pushover. Our mindset is to beat any team we will face,” said Tiu.

CEU interim coach Derrick Pumaren admitted that hurdling Che’Lu Bar and Grill will be no easy task for his squad, which closed out the elims with a loss to Marinerong Pilipino-TIP to settle for fourth at 5-5.

“Nobody expected us to be here. With the departure of Rod Ebondo and other veteran big men we had, we are the surprise team in the semis. So it’s going to be a tall order for us playing the number one team in the league. We just have to compete and play discipline basketball for us to pull a surprise,” said Pumaren.

Jeff Viernes, Jay-R Taganas, Jessie Collado and Levi Hernandez rally the Revellers against the Scorpions’ Orlan Wamar, Pierce Chan and Gilles Oloume.

Meanwhile, Go for Gold hopes to replicate its 93-88 and 86-71 elims victories over Marinerong Pilipino-TIP behind new addition Jerick Cañada, Jai Reyes, Gab Banal and Vince Tolentino.