ALEC Stockton said it was unfortunate that he fouled Jeremiah Gray in the final seconds of regulation, giving Barangay Ginebra a new lease on life in their PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup knockout game on Sunday night.
Converge was one stop away from advancing to the semifinals for the first time in fanchise history when veteran Kevin Racal knocked down two free throws that have the FiberXers an 86-83 lead.
READ Stockton's costly foul on Gray hastens trade out of Converge
With no more timeouts left, Ginebra went the length of the floor for one last shot. But unfortunately for Converge, Stockton fouled Gray while he was taking desperate, fallaway trey from the right corner with 3.4 seconds left.
Gray, who came in only because Scottie Thompson fouled out, calmly sank three free throws to the tie the game and pave the way for overtime. Ginebra eventually won, 99-98, on a buzzer-beating three by Stephen Holt.
“I just want to make it tough for him,” said Stockton. "It was unfortunate that I kinda got into his shooting motion that led to a foul. That was pretty much it.”
Stockton said he tried his best to make a defensive stop by challenging the three of Gray.
“I want to make sure that he didn’t have a great look. But it was just unfortunate that my hand, I was trying to bother his shooting form a little, but his follow through went into my hand.”
Stockton finished the game with eight points and six assists, but will unfortunately be remembered for the foul that he gave in the final seconds.
With the heartbreaking defeat, Converge is still longing for that elusive first semifinal appearance of their franchise after reaching the quarterfinals for the seventh time. But Stockton looks forward to a bright future ahead for Converge.
“Sky is the limit. Obviously, we really have to work on those stretches especially in crunch time, make sure that we capitalize on every little chance that we get. I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Stockton.
“Good thing is like we were really seconds closer compared to the last games that we’ve had,” said Stockton.
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