AN UPBEAT Hapee squad goes for the quarterfinal bonus even as a beleaguered Cagayan Valley tries to achieve the same goal minus its head coach in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Monday at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The surging Fresh Fighters, who rose from a dismal 2-3 start to get back in contention, vie for a sixth win versus the struggling MP Hotel at 1 p.m.
“It’s all about survival,” said Hapee coach Ronnie Magsanoc as the Fresh Fighter try to extend their winning run to four.
The Rising Suns, whose coach Alvin Pua was banned for life by the league recently for punching a referee, clash with leader Cebuana Lhuillier in the 3 p.m. match in a bid to keep a share of the third spot.
Victories by the Fresh Fighters and the Rising Suns will give them a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
The Gems (7-1) and Cafe France (7-2) have earlier locked up the top two spots and secured outright Final Four berths.
Instead of replacing their coach, the Rising Suns decided to make the absence of Pua—who was also fined a whopping half a million pesos—a rallying point.
PBA commissioner Chito Salud had said the punching incident involving Pua and referee Benjie Montero was “the last straw” as the Cagayan mentor had been fined and suspended in past seasons for assaulting game officials.
“We’ll be playing our remaining games without a head coach, but we will be playing for him,” said Cagayan manager Frederic Collado.
As the Rising Suns try to move on, the Fresh Fighters hope to build on their huge upset of the Gems, 71-70, last week where Baser Amer hit the game-winner, while Troy Rosario and Ray Parks also tallied big numbers.