Riding on the bench for all of the fourth quarter, Mangahas banked in a trey as the buzzer expired to lift a slumping Mapua to a 73-70 triumph over Arellano Monday in the 87th NCAA men’s basketball competition.
It was the first and only basket of Mangahas the entire payoff period as he only played 14 minutes overall and scattered seven points in the opening game at the Arena in San Juan.
The Cardinals’ slick guard, who was only fielded in with 7.5 ticks left, broke loose from the leash of his defenders, caught the inbound pass from Jonathan Banal then uncorked the game-winning bank shot from top of the key.
“[I didn’t set up a play] and I let the players decide what to do,” said Mapua head coach Chito Victolero. “I believed Allan [Mangahas] and Tan [Banal] would step up in that kind of situation.”
And giving Mapua’s main offensive threat fewer minutes is all part of Victolero’s plans for his squad, which lost all of its first four games before notching a win.
“Allan [Mangahas] is okay. But the idea is for him to come off the bench because we want to get more production from our second unit,” Victolero said.
“But I already had in mind that I was going to use him [Mangahas] if it all came down to this. I’m very happy for him,” Victolero added. Mangahas is averaging 15.4 points per game prior to this game.
Fil-Palestinian Yousef Taha was also instrumental in Mapua’s second straight win on another towering performance of 17 points and 15 boards.
It was also Taha who nailed a turnaround jumper with 32.5 seconds to even the match at 70-all, before a sorry miss by Arellano’s Vergel Zulueta in the ensuing fight for possession brought the ball back to Mapua.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, drew double-digit performances from half of their squad but could not pull away for good from the Cardinals all game.
Arellano, which led by as many as eight in the second quarter and held a slim upper hand most of the game, was up 66-62 before Taha scored all but two of Mapua’s last eight points before the final shot of Mangahas.
Andrian Celada and Prince Caperal, who both battled early foul trouble, had 17 markers while Rocky Acidre and Zulueta each added 15 more.
“I know they will not give this game to us, they will give us a fight,” said Victolero of Arellano, which reeled to its fifth loss with one win.
The scores:
MAPUA 73—Taha 17, Nimes 16, Banal 8, Sarangay 7, Parala 7, Mangahas 7, Chien 6, Ighalo 4, Stevens 1.
ARELLANO 70—Celada 17, Caperal 17, Acidre 15, Zulueta 15, Lapuz 4, Palma 2, Pagayunan 0, Doligon 0.
Quarters: 20-22,33-34, 52-57, 73-70