Trace-Laguna, Pampanga clash in Liga playoffs

MANILA, Philippines - Action in the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference II heats up beginning today with the staging of the national playoffs with Trace-Laguna hosting Smart-Pampanga at the Trace College Gym in Los Baños, Laguna.

The Stallions settled for the No. 2 seeding after dominating the early part of the elims but are fancied over the Buddies, who took the No. 7 spot, in the lone 5 p.m. encounter.

 “This will be a great playoffs. All the teams have improved and became more competitive,” said Liga president Noli Eala.

In other matches, top seed MisOr takes on No. 8 GenSan, third seed M. Lhuillier-Cebu goes up against No. 6 Ilocos Sur Bravehearts, and fourth seed Quezon battles No. 5 Manila.

The Stallions finished with 42 points, winning legs in General Santos City and Iloilo and placing second in Ilocos Sur and at home. They finished with an overall 12-4 win-loss card in the tournament backed by Smart, ML Kwarta Padala, Air 21, Accel, Burlington, Laptop Phoneshop Exchange, Nature’s Spring and Molten and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).

The Buddies (7-9) had a rollercoaster campaign in the elims, topping the Ilocos Sur leg en route to 20 points. The team finished third in Cebu but placed last in Laguna and at home in Pampanga.

The first three games of the best-of-five series will be played over the next three days at the Stallions’ turf. If necessary, action shifts to the Holy Angel University in Pampanga.

The Stallions have won two of their three games against the Buddies this conference, posting an 81-60 rout in Ilocos and 88-82 win in Laguna. The Buddies won in overtime, 82-77, also in Ilocos.