Coke pushes out RP team

And the Selecta Philippine team is finally out of the PBA and, hopefully, could make good use of the remaining few weeks of its buildup to have a good shot in the coming Asian Games in Busan, Korea.

The Coca-Cola Tigers showed the Nationals the door, hacking out a 74-62 win to complete the cast of the Samsung PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals at the Astrodome last night.

The Nationals ended their stint in the tournament with a poor 3-7 win-loss card, joining the Purefoods Hotdogs and the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the sidelines after the eliminations.

But RP team coach Jong Uichico thought their showing in the tournament couldn’t be used as gauge to measure how far they could go in Busan. He admitted they struggled in the PBA but believed they’re on track towards their Asiad goal.

For the first time, Uichico utilized 13 players (minus injured brothers Andy and Danny Seigle) in what became their farewell game in the PBA. Asi Taulava scored 18 points with Jeffrey Cariaso adding eight and Eric Menk and Olsen Racela seven points apiece.

Repulsing the Nationals, the Tigers closed their own elims stint with a 6-4 win-loss card. Their bid for a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarters remains in the balance at the moment, though.

If any, what the Coca-Cola win guaranteed was the passage of Talk N Text (4-5) and Shell (4-5) into the quarters.

Sta. Lucia (6-3), Alaska (6-3), San Miguel (6-3), Coca-Cola (6-4) and FedEx (5-4) are disputing the last three slots in the Final Four. The first slot went to Red Bull after winding up with a 7-3 record.