Racal coach Jerry Codinera. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Racal coach Jerry Codiñera rued his team’s poor start and even worse shooting against Cignal-San Beda in Game 1 of the 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals on Thursday.
“We need to make those open shots. Against CafeFrance, we were able to make those shots, but this time, we’re unable to do that,” he said after its 93-85 defeat.
The Tile Masters shot a woeful 25-percent shooting in the first half, which saw them face a 55-36 deficit which eventually went as much as 21 in the third period.
While they recovered late and waged belated fightback, their poor sniping just couldn’t hold up against the hot shooting Hawkeyes, who went on a 47-percent field goal clip.
“We cannot let Cignal run their offense. It’s going to be difficult for us to catch up,” Codiñera said. “If they get those types of lead from the start, it’s going to be hard for us because Cignal has different players like (Jason) Perkins who can play from inside and outside.”
Steering Racal to its first ever PBA D-League Finals appearance, Codiñera reminded his wards to make the most of this opportunity as he reflected on the tough path his team had to go through just to get to this stage.
“It’s rare for us to get at this level so we’ll try to equalize first,” he said. “We’ll try to do better in practice, be in one page. We know how strong coach Boyet (Fernandez)’ teams are, so what we’ll try to do is to keep it close. We’ll keep it at a striking distance and grab the opportunity. Hopefully next game, we’ll be much prepared.”
Game 2 is on Monday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.