MANILA: From one knockout game to another — and this one has the most pressure of all.
Coca-Cola and Rain or Shine dispatched of separate foes last night and moved on collision course for a tournament-ending game Wednesday in wildcard action in the Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center.
The Tigers almost blew a 21-point fourth quarter lead before prevailing, 118-112, over a game Burger King side, just a couple of hours after the Elasto Painters also walked the tightrope against Sta. Lucia in a 90-86 win.
Both squads thus arranged a you-or-me showdown on Wednesday where the winner gets to play on and the loser packs for a long, long vacation.
Eddie Laure was the hero for the Painters, with the journeyman left-hander hitting four of the team’s final six points inside the last two minutes to bundle out the sixth-ranked Realtors, the champions here two years ago who joined ousted Barako Bull in the sidelines.
The Whoppers joined the Energy Boosters and the Realtors, but not after putting up a big fight against the hulking Tigers, who got 22 points from Mark Macapagal, 21 from Gary David and 15 rebounds from Asi Taulava.
Coca-Cola led all the way, taking a 13-point lead into the third period before bloating this to as huge as 21 early in the fourth quarter.
But what seemed to be a breeze for them almost blew up in their faces, as the Whoppers came roaring back to within four points in the final minute behind Ronjay Buenafe.
Coca-Cola then got a crucial three-point play from David, a former Burger King mainstay, and the game-clinching short stab from RJ Rizada to finally put away the Whoppers, a side that played with so much adversity in the tournament but managed to play with a lot of guts.
