Harbour Centre, beaten by rival Toyota Otis in their playoff match for one of two automatic semis berths last Saturday, collides with Cebuana Lhuillier Pera Padala at 2 p.m. while Mail & More, outclassed by Hapee Toothpaste, takes on Sista-St. Benilde at 4 p.m.

Both the Port Masters and Comets have beaten their rivals in the classification round but coaches Jorge Gallent and Lawrence Chongson expect another close and exciting match in their quarterfinal series.

One thing going for both Harbour and Mail & More is that they will go into the game enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage, a luxury they gained for finishing third and fourth at the end of the classification round.

Reed Juntilla, one of the league’s underrated players, keyed Harbour Centre’s 75-73 win over Pera Padala last Dec. 20 when he knocked in a tough jumper with only 2.3 ticks left.

Juntilla’s heroics still haunts coach Luigi Trillo and that’s why the youthful mentor is charting out ways on how to limit his production.

Trillo’s other concern is how to stop JC Intal now that the 6-foot-4 former Ateneo Eagle King has consistently producing big numbers for the Port Masters.

The Pera Padala coach conceded that stopping Intal is one difficult task but he will do everything at his disposal to ensure that the go-to-guy Harbour forward can’t inflict much damage on them.

Harbour team manager Erick Arejola, however, revealed that Intal is fully motivated and ready to face the challenge of former Ateneo teammates Doug Kramer and Macky Escolona.

"Despite our defeat to Toyota Otis, JC is in high spirit and determined to bring the team to the semis and back to the championship," said Arejola. "But as coach Gallent said, we have to be aggressive at both ends of the court."

Offensively, Trillo is expected to rely much on beefy center and UAAP MVP Ken Bono, who sparkled for 26 points in the team’s 81-72 victory over TeleTech that also enabled them to advance to the quarterfinal round.

The winner in the Harbour-Pera padala series will face No. 2 Toyota Otis in the semis while victor in the Mail & More-Sista tussle earns the right to face Hapee in the other series which will be a best-of-five affair.

The Comets beat the Super Sealers, 65-58, in their Dec. 20 showdown but Sista will be going into the game fresh from its masterful 66-61 dismantling of multi-titled Magnolia Ice Cream.

The Comets will also play minus Chongson who left for Hong Kong yesterday due to a prior commitment. Allan Gregorio, brother of Purefoods mentor Ryan Gregorio, will call the shots for the Comets.