Racal and Tanduay will part ways after the two contenders face off on Thursday in the 2016 PBA D-League Foundation Cup at Strike Gym in Bacoor, Cavite.
Both sporting an identical 3-1 record, the two contenders want to one-up each other and tie the idle Café France at second place. The Tile Masters are expected to be on a high after coming off a 62-point mugging of Blustar Detergent, 122-60, just a day prior.
That rout fell just two points short of the largest winning margin in league history set by NLEX, when they dismantled Zambales M-Builders, 125-61, back on January 30, 2014.
Coach Caloy Garcia has been elated with the way his guys came out against the Dragons, which he felt was a nice preparation for this duel against the Rhum Masters.
“It’s going to be a good game. We just want to get prepared against Tanduay and with the way we played, I think we have a good chance to win,” he said.
But Tanduay’s confidence is on a different level, having dealt Café France their first defeat of the tourney, 84-80, last Thursday. Still, coach Lawrence Chongson refuses to feel comfortable, opting to keep his wards focused on the task at hand.
“It will be another tough ordeal for us, facing formidable foes one after the other. But this is the fun part in competition and we’ll just have to be ready,” he said. “They’re gonna be a tough opponent, no doubt, and we’d really need a lot of breaks going our way for us to be at par with Racal.”
Game time is at 4 p.m.
In the first game at 2 p.m., one team’s zero is definitely going to go, as winless teams Blustar Detergent (0-4) and Topstar ZC Mindanao (0-3) wage war in search of their first victory of the tournament.
