TWICE Titan Ultra had a shot at winning the game and stunning the league’s top seed, NLEX and at least getting a morale booster in what has been an otherwise forgettable PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
But it just wasn’t meant to be.
With Titan down by one with seconds remaining, Joshua Munzon stripped the ball from LJay Gonzales and found a wide-open lane on the fastbreak but unfortunately blew the gimme lay-up which would’ve put them up by one with 15 seconds remaining.
The Giant Risers had another shot to win it as Michael Gilmore got the offensive rebound and was fouled, but the import missed his second free-throw, sending the game into overtime where the Road Warriors eventually hacked out a 123-112 win on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Titan coach Rensy Bajar isn’t about to point fingers in the loss, but he did admit that it’s not a good look for players at this level to be missing lay-ups like that.
“Di naman natin kailangan manisi ng player or kung sino man. Nangyayari sa game yun, yung mga missed layups na ganun,” Bajar told SPIN.ph.
“Pero as a pro, you need to [make those]. Kailangan. Negative kasi yung tingin pagka-ganun e. Kailangan matuto ka sa experience na ganun,“ he continued
“Sa'min naman, walang kailangan i-blame. Nakita mo naman paano nag-sikap at nag-compete yung mga bata. Kaso yun lang hindi napunta yung breaks sa'min sa huli.”
The loss was the Giant Risers’ sixth straight as they dropped to 2-9 with a game left in their conference.
They’ll close out their run against Rain or Shine on Friday, a game where Bajar hopes to see some fight from his squad and end what has been a listless campaign with a win.
“Next play. Next chapter. Kalimutan na yun siyempre, you need to absorb it, tapos after that you move on. Ganun naman sa buhay, if you fail, go up. Tumayo ka. Another game again,” he said.
While they’re no longer in contention, Bajar still sees this as an important one for the Giant Risers – a game with their future in mind as they now shift their focus to the season-ending Governors’ Cup.
“It’s a young team, it’s a young core. Yung experience na nakukuha naman in these games, malaking bagay ’to moving forward. Pinaghahandaan na namin yung future, yung [next] conference,” Bajar said.
“Yung makukuha naming experience sa mga previous games namin, at least yung mga top team nabibigyan namin ng magandang laban. So siguro dapat matuto na kami doon.”
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