Photo Credit: PBA.ph

As the elimination rounds near its end, the San Miguel Beermen will try to solidify its bid for a Magic 5 slot and maybe a shot at one of the two semifinals ticket when they battle it out today with the wounded Coca-Cola Tigers squad.

The Beermen will have to do it without starting center Dorian Pena, who was suspended for 1 game after committing a flagrant penalty 2 against Carlo Sharma in their last game against the Red Bull Barakos.

Despite of that, the Beermen are lucky enough as I found out from an insider that Coca-Cola Tigers center Asi Taulava will not be playing tonight due to an injury. That basically takes away one edge of the Tigers in terms of frontliners.

Add to the Tigers misery is that playmaker Alex Cabagnot is still not sure if he can suit up tonight. Cabagnot has missed several games after also incurring an injury of his own contributing heavily to the three straight losses of Coca-Cola in the second round of eliminations.

More of tonight’s game news preview from a news article from the Philippine Star (philstar.ph).

Realtors subdue Giants; Beermen, Express press bids

Purefoods missed three field goal attempts and two free throws in the last 29 seconds, enabling Sta. Lucia to escape with a 73-71 victory in their KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City last night.

James Yap, Roger Yap and Kerby Raymundo flubbed their shots from the perimeter while Enrico Villanueva muffed his charities under pressure as the Giants failed to force overtime in a contest they dominated early on.

The Realtors rallied from a 48-57 deficit at the start of the final period and went on to nail their eighth win against the same number of losses.

Purefoods slid to 7-9.

Meanwhile, two teams jockeying for position atop the chart clash with rivals trying to avoid early elimination as action resumes at the Araneta Coliseum today.

San Miguel Beer squares off with Coca-Cola at 5 p.m. while Air21 collides with lowly Red Bull in 7:30 p.m. main game.

The Beermen and the Express are pressing their bids for a slot in the Magic Five while the Tigers and the Bulls are virtually fighting for the last slot in the wildcard round.

San Miguel (9-6) has a chance to draw closer on league-leader Alaska Milk (10-5) while Air21 has a chance to tie Rain or Shine (9-7) at fourth place tonight.

“We’re raring to win this game. Three games to go and everyone is neck and neck (in the race). One lose and you could go three notches down in the standings,” said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen.

The Beermen are playing minus another key player in Dorian Peña, suspended for one game for a flagrant foul committed in their last game against Red Bull.

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