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CafeFrance punched its ticket to the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals after downing Tanduay, 72-63, to sweep their best-of-3 semifinals series Tuesday at San Juan Arena.
“The boys deserved it. All the hard work, preparation, the hardship na dinadanas, the boys showed character and the heart of a champion,” said coach Egay Macaraya, as the Bakers will be shooting for back-to-back titles after winning the 2015 Foundation Cup last season.
Rod Ebondo carried CafeFrance with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Samboy de Leon fought through his groin injury to notch 13 markers.
Mon Abundo also had 12 points and seven boards, while Carl Bryan Cruz got 10 in the win.
The Rhum Masters battled back from 16-points down in the first half and grabbed a slim 63-62 lead going into the last two minutes of the game. The Bakers, however, would clamp down on defense and forced three crucial stops in the end game to take a 69-63 lead with 27.5 seconds to go.
“We want to go back to basics. We know what’s coming and yung play ni coach Lawrence (Chongson), so we just executed on defense and we played well,” said Macaraya.
The loss spoiled the huge game for Tanduay playmaker Rudy Lingganay, who almost tallied a triple-double with 17 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.
Val Acuna also got 14 markers on a 3-of-10 shooting from threes in the defeat.
CafeFrance now awaits the victor of the Caida Tile – Phoenix-FEU series in the best-of-5 championship duel.