Allan Mangahas lifts Racal in clincher. PBA IMAGES
Allan Mangahas caught fire in the fourth quarter and Racal edged Cafe France, 78-74, in a thriller Tuesday to advance to the 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Mangahas buried four triples in the final frame alone with his last 3-pointer giving the Tile Masters a four-point lead to seal the game with 4.3 seconds left.
“I just told him (Mangahas) to keep shooting,” said Racal head coach Jerry Codiñera. “My only worry was he’ll tire out but he didn’t.”
“The game could’ve gone either way. They (Cafe France) had a wide open three and they missed. Had it gone in I didn’t think we would’ve been able to recover from it,” Codiñera recalled. “But it didn’t go in and perhaps the game was really for us. God’s will.”
Codiñera is just in his first conference with Racal, which is making its first finals appearance since joining the league in 2014.
The 29-year-old Mangahas finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from long range in just a little over 17 minutes off the bench.
“I thought my last 3-pointer was short but for some reason it was just right,” Mangahas said in Filipino.
Racal will face either Cignal-San Beda or Tanduay in a best-of-three finals beginning on Thursday.
Rod Ebondo powered the Bakers with 26 points and 20 rebounds.
Kent Salado led the Tile Masters in scoring with 16 that went with six rebounds, eight assists and three steals.