Caida’s Philipp Paniamogan. PBA IMAGES
Powerhouse Caida let its guard down and nearly paid dearly for it.
Facing one of the worst teams in the league, the Tile Masters had to rally in the fourth quarter to escape the Mindanao Aguilas, 95-87, in the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
“We played bad today,” Caida head coach Caloy Garcia admitted. “But I also want to give credit to Mindanao because I think they’re starting to jell for a new team, they were able to get good players to beef up their lineup.”
“We were just too complacent from the beginning, too confident but we have to learn from this. Going into the next game and the next round, we have to do better,” added Garcia. “In the first half, I reminded the players we only had two assists — that means, we’re not sharing the ball, we were not moving the ball, we’re just trying to win the game individually.”
Philip Paniamogan led Caida 18 points, 10 coming in the second half while Jonathan Grey and Jason Perkins came through when it mattered most for the Tile Masters (6-1), who came into the game already assured of a twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals.
Grey and Perkins combined for 13 points with the La Salle forward scoring four points in the last 50 seconds including a triple that put Caida out of harm’s way, 92-87, with 38 ticks left.
“Luckily in the fourth quarter, our character showed and we were able to come back from a 10-point deficit. The nice thing about it is some players didn’t play the way they should’ve played but still we were able to pull off this victory,” Garcia said, whose team flaunted its depth anew with seven players scoring at least eight points.
The Aguilas (1-6) paraded former pro Eric Salamat, who debuted with a game-high 21 points, 13 coming in the third period, where they took a 70-60 lead with only a minute left.