TERRAFIRMA is in. NorthPort is out.

Terrafirma ended eight years of frustrations by beating NorthPort, 104-96, and making it to the playoffs in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Juami Tiongso, Javi Gomez de Liano, and Stephen Holt provided the spark a the Dyip unleashed a closing 19-10 run to frustrate the Batang Pier and catch the last bus to the quarterfinals.

Tiongson finished with a game-high 31 points, highlighted by a triple and Aland-1 play in the last 1:33,as.the Johnedel Cardel-mentored Dyip finally made it to playoffs after failing to make the cut in the last 16 conferences.

Gomez de Liano scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, including two triples and a pair of free throws that broke hearts of the Batang Pier. Holt added 18 points, six of them in Terrafirma’s final assault down the stretch.

Terrafirna’s reward?

The No. 8 spot in the quarterfinals and a date with top seed and defending champion San Miguel Beer, which holds twice-to-beat advantage.

“Syempre mahirap. They’re all superstars. They have (June Mar) Fajardo, wings, shooters. Fifteen players, kahit sino ipasok ni coach Jorge (Gallent) talagang magko-contribute,” said Cardel in an interview posted at the official PBA website.

“Pero bilog naman ang bola. Lahat ng players ko they really want to play in the quarterfinals, even though dumaan kami sa butas ng karayom. Dadaan uli kami sa butas ng karayom (against SMB) pero gagawin namin ang lahat,” added Cardel.

Zav Lucero finished with 17 points for the Batang Pier, who missed the playoffs for the second time in the last three conferences.

Flores and Joshua Munzon added 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the best-of-three quarterfinal matches pitting No. 3 Meralco against No. 6 NLEX and No. 4 TNT against No. 5 Rain or Shine kick off Friday at the Smart araneta Coliseum.

All four teams and No. 7 Magnolia Chicken Timplados fnished with similar 6-5 win-loss records, and the final positions of the team were only determined after the application of the quotient tiebreak.

As No. 7 seed, Magnolia ended up facing No. 2 Barangay Ginebra.

Like No. 1 San Miguel, Ginebra needs only to win once to advance to the semis.

Meralco clinched No. ,3 seed following a 95-92 victory over erstwhile unbeaten San Miguel Beer at the Batangas City Coliseum last May 4.

TNT, on the other hand, took the No. 4 spot after a hard-fought 98-93 win over Magnolia at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium last May 5.

The scores:

Terrafirma (104)— Tiongson 30, Gomez de Liano 21, Holt 18, Go 13, Ramos 7, Carino 7, Sangalang 4, Alolino 2, Calvo 2, Camson 0.
NorthPort (96)— Lucero 17, Flores 16, Munzon 15, Tolentino 13, Zamar 10, Navarro 9, Amores 7, Yu 4, Rosales 2, Cuntapay 2, Adamos 1, Bulanadi 0, Chan 0.
Quarterscores: 27-33, 55-54, 82-81, 104-96.

Games Friday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. — NLEX vs. Meralco
7:30 p.m. — TNT vs. Rain or Shine