Express seal playoff duel with Realtors

Air21 rode the momentum of a two-game run and rolled past Coca-Cola, 111-106, last night to arrange a sudden-death with Sta. Lucia Realty for the last slot in the Talk n Text PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Express churned out enough effort to complete a three-game sweep in the wildcard round that gave them a crack at the playoff for the right to play Red Bull in the quarterfinals.

The Express and the Realtors clash in a do-or-die game at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Astrodome.

The winner challenges Red Bull in a best-of-five showdown in the quarterfinals starting Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum. The loser finishes seventh place in the tourney, just ahead of Alaska Milk, Coca-Cola and Welcoat.

"Sta. Lucia is one of the toughest teams in the league. They have a formidable lineup but I believe we can match up with them," said Air21 coach Bo Perasol.

"We have a positive outlook against Sta. Lucia. We beat them badly in the wildcard round and we want to avenge our two defeats to them in the classification round," Perasol added.

Earlier in the night, Alaska Milk put up a decent stand in its farewell game, toppling the Dennis Espino-less Sta. Lucia side, 99-91, for a closing 9-12 win-loss card.

It’s the first time that Alaska failed to make it past the elimination round since the playoff format was introduced in the league in 1999.

For the record, the Uytengsu ballclub had never finished eighth or worse in the last 13 All-Filipino tourneys or since ending up eighth in this particular conference in 1992.

Bracing up for what seemed to be an inevitable playoff, the Realtors rested their injured skipper, Dennnis Espino, and were dominated by the Aces at the paint.

Air21, meanwhile, outclassed Coca-Cola on all fronts of the game, making it three in a row in their head-on duels in the tourney.

The Express pounded the Tigers in the second quarter, erecting a 58-40 halftime lead which provided enough cushion on Coca-Cola’s endgame chase.

"I don’t like the way we finished the game but I’m happy we won and it gave us the right to play Sta. Lucia in a playoff," said Perasol.

John Ferriols had a huge double-double game and five other Aces scored in double figures as they closed out their poor showing in the tourney on a winning note.

"We went up and down, and we had more downs in this tournament. We’re hit by injuries early with our premier point guard (Mike Cortez) downed by an ACL. We tried to recover but didn’t really able get into the groove," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.