THE last outright semifinals slot is up for grabs today when the surging Cagayan Valley Rising Suns take on the Blackwater Sports in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the Trinity University of Asia gym in Quezon City.
Cebuano Eliud Poligrates flaunted his skills once more as he scored 27 points while Chris Exciminiano added 23 to lead the Suns to a, 107-75 win over the Fruitas Shakers to set this crucial game up.
The winner of this 4 p.m. showdown will earn the number two seeding and a direct passage to the Final Four.
Top seed and defending champion NLEX Road Warriors clinched the first outright semi-final spot by finishing the elimination round with a 9-1 [win-loss] record.
In the first game at 2 p.m, Cebuana Lhuiullier [3-5] also go for a crucial win against bottom-dweller Informatics to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinals seat.
The struggling Gems, who have lost three of their last four assignments, are hard-pressed to win their last two elimination round matches to make the quarterfinal round.
The Icons [1-8] have long been out of the running but remains dangerous. They are coming off an inspiring, 94-87 breakthrough victory against Big Chill [5-4] last week that snapped an eight-game skid and knocked the Superchargers out from contention for an outright semi-final berth. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio