PBA D-League: Wangs clip Racal to bounce back from loss

MANILA, Philippines — Wangs Basketball recovered their bearings and edged Racal Motors, 80-72, to improve to 2-1 and deny Racal its first win in the 2015 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup Monday, November 10 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Rocky Acidre and Michael Miranda combined for 30 points (15 apiece) with Acidre adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

“Okay yung kumpiyansa ng mga bata ngayon unlike sa last game namin,” said Wangs head coach Pablo Lucas, whose team bounced back from an upset defeat by newcomer MP Hotel. (The team is in a better place with their confidence level in this game compared to the last.) 

Lucas said the loss woke his team up. 

“Naging lesson sa kanila yun. Yung intensity at aggressiveness sa depensa, nandun. Maganda yung ball movement at na-set yung mga plays today.” (That became a lesson for them. The intensity and aggressiveness on defense was there. The ball movement was good and the plays were set well today.) 

Acidre, a former Arellano Chief, and Miranda, a former San Sebastian Stag, conspired for 4 points midway in the payoff period to break the 67-all tie forced by Jaycee Asuncion and create a 71-67 cushion.

For its finishing kick, Wangs had a 7-0 swing capped off by a Miranda basket with 20.4 ticks left to put the game out of reach, 79-69.

Mark Anthony Acosta and Paolo Pontejos added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Racal, which fell to 0-3, was led by Raymond Jamito’s 19 points off the bench while Jeff Viernes had 13 points and 7 rebounds. – Rappler.com