Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Caida played two different halves to put away UP-QRS/JAM Liner, 118-86, and assure itself of a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals of the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Tuesday at San Juan Arena.
The Tile Masters relied too much on their individual talents and made the game harder for themselves in the first two quarters with the Maroons giving them fits.
But it an entirely different story in the second half when Caida started playing as a team.
“We’re still looking to get better despite the win,” said Caida head coach Caloy Garcia. “I think there are still times where we relax too much so my reminder before the game was in order for everybody to get to play, everybody has to give 100% so I was a bit disappointed on how we started the game that we’re just riding along,”
“The nice thing about it is that in the second half everybody pushed and everybody ran our offense. I told them, if we want to win games, we just have to keep on running because in terms of depth we’re a bit heavy.”
Jio Jalalon, who serves as Caida’s engine, got his team rolling in the second half — dictating the pace and setting up his teammates.
Jalalon finished with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, three steals and zero turnovers in 23 minutes while Jonathan Grey scored 14 of his 18 points in the final two quarters for the Tile Masters, who tied the Cafe France Bakers in first place at 5-1.
The Tile Masters outscored the Maroons, 66-41, in the second half and led by as much as 34, 118-84, late in the game. They went on a 22-8 blast capped by back-to-back triples by Grey to break the game open, 102-79, with 4:04 left.
Philip Paniamogan also came up big with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field for Caida, which shot 58% from the floor, including 10-of-19 from distance.
Raymond Aguilar had 12 points and 13 rebounds while Diego Dario scored 19 off the bench for JAM Liner, which slid to 3-3.