Flying V shoots for semis berth

Games Today (Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig City) 3 p.m. – Gamboa Coffee vs CEU 5 p.m. – Flying V vs AMA

Unbeaten Flying V shoots for the first outright semifinals berth even as Centro Escolar University (CEU) looks to get back on winning track when they face separate rivals today in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Flying V battles AMA Online Education at 5 p.m. with its eyes set on an eighth straight win that would give the talented rookie squad safe passage to the last four of the PBA’s developmental tournament.

The team of coach Eric Altamirano is coming off a 91-79 victory over CEU, which is determined to bounce back from that setback and boost its chances of making the quarterfinals against hardluck Gamboa Coffee in the 3 p.m. curtainraiser.

CEU currently shares fifth and sixth places with idle Batangas at 4-3, thus needing a sense of urgency to perform well in its last three games to catch the quarters bus.

Two subplots are in store for the Flying V-AMA duel. The first is the bid of the Thunder, currently at 7-0, to close in on completing an elimination round sweep – a feat achieved by the NLEX Road Warriors in the 2012 and 2014 Foundation Cup and the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns in the 2015 Aspirants’ Cup.

The other is the first meeting of Teng against AMA, the team which he led to the quarterfinals in his DLeague debut in the Aspirants’ Cup. It was with the Titans where the former La Salle star scored 42 points in his first-ever game.