With his job on the line every single night, Brown Sunday night tossed in a PBA career-high 43 points and cleared 20 boards, leading the Llamados to a 106-100 decision of Barako Coffee and into a playoff  for an outright Final Four slot.

“He (Brown) is making a strong pitch for himself,” Gregorio answered when asked if the hard-working import has sealed his place in the squad. “The harder he makes me make a decision, the better it is for me and the team.” The Llamados finished their elimination round stint tied with sister squad San Miguel for second spot at 13-5, necessitating a KO game on Friday for the right to join idle Talk ’N Text in the semifinals automatically.

It was the sixth straight win for Derby Ace, the reigning Philippine Cup champion, and Gregorio was candid enough to say that what they have done with their late run is an achievement in itself considering that they are one cornerstone down.

And that they won’t be sulking even if they don’t come out on top of the do-or-die match on Friday slated at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

“If we lose that (game), we still wouldn’t lose our chance (to win the title),” Gregorio said. “Whatever we have achieved is a huge development for our franchise. I really thought that it would be rocky this conference with Kerby (Raymundo) out.” The loser of the San Miguel-Derby Ace match will drop to the quarterfinal  round and will clash with the winner of the wildcard series in a best-of-five series.

Raymundo hasn’t played a single game this tournament because of a knee injury, but the Llamados have so far managed to plug the hole by playing solid defense and getting so many people to step up.

James Yap, despite celebrity-wife Kris Aquino’s admission to the end of their marriage early Sunday, still tossed in 18 points for the Llamados with Nino Canaleta shooting 13 and Roger Yap adding 10.

Barako Coffee was the first team to exit the event after closing out with a 3-15 card, half-a-game  out of the final wildcard spot that went to idle Air21.

The Coffee Masters missed making the playoffs for the second time this year and fourth straight dating back to last season when they started trading away their players.

Sammy Monroe worked himself  to exhaustion, trying to carry the Coffee Masters on his shoulders in a laudable effort  that fell just short.

The droopy-eyed import had 37 points and eight assists and several locals responded well to the challenge that’s why the Coffee Masters were in the game practically the entire night.

But it was really Brown’s night as he scored 15 of his total in the second quarter and 14 in the final frame, including a highlight reel left-handed slam dunk off Rob Reyes to finish a break that kept the Llamados in the driver’s seat.

Earlier, Rain or Shine forged a separate KO match with Barangay Ginebra for an outright quarterfinal seat after downing Coca-Cola, 101-90.

The Elasto Painters got 26 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists from Rod Nealy as they snapped a three-game winning streak by the Tigers to catch the Gin Kings in fifth spot at 9-9.

Their KO match will also be played on Friday with the loser to drop into the wildcard as the No. 6 seed.

Solomon Mercado added 17 points for the Painters, who also got three other locals scoring 11 or more.

Gary David backed up John Williamson’s 23 poitns with 16 markers and Marvin Cruz tossed in 14 in starting out at the point guard spot as the Tigers earned No. 7 ranking after closing out with an 8-10 slate.