REIGNING champion EcoOil-La Salle defeated Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda, 82-71, on Thursday night and advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The Green Archers, who swept the Red Lions in last year’s finals, led from start to finish to complete a five-game sweep in the six-team, single-round classification phase and clinch top seeding.
“The first thing we told our players heading into this game was we have to respect San Beda. They’re not the NCAA champions for nothing and they’re coming off a tough loss against CEU so we expected a physical battle,” said La Salle assistant coach Gian Nazario.
Centro Escolar University became the biggest beneficiary of EcoOil-La Salle’s victory as it claimed the other outright semis seat up for grabs. CEU subdued CCI-Yengskivel,96-78, in the second game to finish the round with a 4-1 record.
It was a tough loss for the Red Lions, who absorbed their second defeat in a span of three days. They finished with 3-2 mark and have been relegated to the quarterfinals, although with a twice-to-beat advantage against Keanzel Basketball which lost to GoTorakku-St. Clare, 124-90, in the first match.
The other quarterfinal pairing pits Go Torakku-St. Clare (2-3) and CCI-Yengskivel (1-4) with the former also enjoying a win-once bonus.
The quarterfinals start Monday.