CHE’LU Bar and Grill star Jeff Viernes blames himself for failing to lead his team in stopping Go for Gold’s explosive second half and surrendered with a 96-98 loss in Game Three of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Finals on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
With seven minutes to go in the payoff period, the Revellers squandered an 80-71 spread, allowing the Scratchers to unleash a blistering 24-11 run en route to a 95-91 cushion with 26.3 seconds left in the game.
Viernes never gave up as he quickly slashed inside for a layup to trim it to two-point deficit before counterpart Jai Reyes split his crucial free-throws, giving Go for Gold a 96-93 breather. Chris Bitoon also nailed a layup plus a foul from Paul Desiderio, scoring the bonus charity to tie the game, 96-all, with 14.7 ticks remaining.
But Desiderio, who sank two crucial triples in the last minute, delivered the go-ahead layup, showing the way for the Scratchers to take the 2-1 series lead as the inbound pass to Viernes was intercepted by Go for Gold’s defense.
The high-scoring guard is taking the blame for their crucial loss.
“Siguro hindi ko sila na-lead. I will (take the blame) as a leader sa team namin baka hindi ko sila mahandle masyado nung fourth na kailangan composed kami hanggang matapos,” said Viernes, who finished with 23 points on top of six assists, three rebounds and as many as steals.
“So sa akin ‘yon kailangan hindi pwedeng ganun ulit sa Game Four, kailangan talaga mas composed kami pagdating sa dulo yung mga ganung dikitan na laban,” he added.
From a 14-point lead in the second half, 52-38, the Revellers saw the Scratchers give them a dose of their own medicine from their Game One comeback as Go for Gold won two Finals matches in a row to inch one win away from bagging the Foundation Cup title.
“Credit sa kanila mas nakita mo naman yung umiscore sila ng 35 points in the 4th quarter, ang ganda ng offense nila then nakapagadjust sila sa play namin. Mas pinatunayan nilang mas gusto nila makuha itong Game 3,” Viernes said. “Dahil alam mo naman ‘yung Go for Gold, anytime kahit sino doon pumuputok so Desiderio naman this time kinain kami. I think lahat ng last possessions nila napasok ni Desiderio so nanalo sila.”
As they grieved on their Game Three meltdown, Viernes stayed optimistic, believing that the Revellers would live another day in Game Four on Tuesday next week.
“Pagpasok namin kanina sa dugout siyempre medyo tahimik. Game Three sa kanila, advantage na sa kanila one win away,” he said. “Pero sabi ko nga dalawang game pa naman, hindi pa huli ang lahat focus lang ganun pa rin. Mas kailangan lang namin pagdating sa dulo kahit lamang kami hindi kami pwedeng magrelax.”
Aside from fighting for their precious lives in Game Four, Viernes is vying for the Most Valuable Player award against Go for Gold star Gab Banal.
But for the Che’Lu Bar and Grill point guard, he remained focused on fulfilling his mission for the franchise than getting the precious individual award.
“Hindi ko na iniisip ngayon yun dahil sabi ko nga from the start wala akong iniisip na individual awards pero syempre kung maibibigay yun very thankful na rin,” Viernes said. “As of now, ‘yung mission ko talaga is to help this team to win their first championship in the PBA D-League so ‘yun ‘yung iniisip ko ngayon.”
“Kailangan talaga namin bumounce back sa Game Four so kailangan talaga namin makuha ‘yun and kahit anong mangyari hindi kami bibitiw sa Game Four,” he vowed.
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