St. Clare, TIP out to complete Final Four cast

Games today (Paco Arena, Manila)

1:30 p.m. – BRT Sumisip Basilan-St. Clare* vs Hyperwash

3:30 p.m. – TIP* vs Black Mamba

*twice-to-beat

MANILA, Philippines — Group B top-seeds BRT Sumisip Basilan-St. Clare and TIP look to take care of their own win-once incentives and complete the Final Four cast in the 2019 PBA D-League Foundation Cup when they face underdog quarterfinal rivals Hyperwash and Black Mamba, respectively, today at the Paco Arena in Manila. 

The No. 1 Saints, unbeaten in the prelims, try to knock off fourth-ranked Hyperwash in their 1:30 p.m. duel in a bid to arrange a best-of-three semifinal duel with CEU.

The second-seeded Engineers go for the same mission when they try to boot out No. 3 Black Mamba in their 3:30 p.m. tiff. A win by TIP will send the Engineers to the semis against Marinerong Pilipino. 

Marinerong Pilipino and CEU, the top two seeds in Group A, booked the first two semis seats in disposing of AMA Online Education and Asia’s Lashes, respectively, last Thursday.

Even with their six blowout wins in the prelims, St. Clare coach Stevenson Tiu doesn’t want his team to go easy, saying the real battle is only about to start in the playoffs. 

“It’s a different story in the playoffs. We may have won blowout victories in the prelims but that will not matter here. We’re all back to scratch so we have to be ready,” said Tiu.