NICO Elorde had no second thoughts whatsoever the moment the ball swung his way late in GlobalPort's game against San Miguel on Wednesday night, never mind if he was struggling with his shot the whole night.
He let fly. Swoosh.
Found wide open by Stanley Pringle in the wings, Elorde calmly drained the go-ahead three-pointer and give the Batang Pier the separation they needed from the Beermen, 95-92, with 48 seconds left.
That three turned out to be huge for Batang Pier as they put away the Beermen, 98-94, fore their first win against the mighty franchise since the Governors Cup of 2016.
Elorde was just glad to repay the faith of his coach Pido Jarencio.
“Siguro sobrang tiwala lang si coach Pido, nagpapasalamat ako dun. Kasi buong game medyo struggle ako, di ko makuha timing eh. Pero nandun pa rin ako sa loob, so kailangan ready lang. 'Yun, dumating yung chance,” said Elorde.
“Titira ko talaga yun, everyday ko naman ginagawa yun. Sabi ni Stan ready lang so pagka-kickout niya, tira,” he added.
Elorde finished with six points, seven rebounds and five assists. He scored all of his six points after the ejection of import Malcolm White at the final 8:09 mark on two technical fouls.
Elorde and the Batang Pier used that as a motivation to pull off the huge upset.
“Syempre malaking bagay si Malcolm, sabi ko nga sa ref na ‘parang bakit ganun binigay mo na yung laro sa kanila.’ Pero kailangan stay together lang kami at depensa talaga nagpanalo sa amin.”
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