CALVIN Oftana felt the sting of TNT losing to San Miguel Beer in back-to-back fashion in a PBA Philippine Cup championship series.
Nonetheless, he was gracious in defeat against a great team like the Beermen.
“Hats off to San Miguel. They did well this conference, talagang trinabaho nila ito,” said Oftana in the aftermath of the Tropang 5G’s 92-77 loss in Game Six on Sunday night before a crowd of 14,201 at the Mall of Asian Arena.
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“Every loss, masakit talaga,” the TNT forward, close to tears after the game, added. “Mahirap yung back-to-back losses, pero I’m proud of the guys, I’m proud of our coaches.”
For the second straight all-Filipino Cup finals, San Miguel finished off TNT in six games.
Oftana tried to will TNT back into the game after falling by as much as 26-5 late in the first period. The NCAA MVP from San Beda had 15 of his team-high 28 points in the second quarter when he presided over a 14-0 run that had TNT closing the gap at 34-33.
The Tropang 5G even took the lead briefly, 68-66, in the third period before San Miguel regained the lead, 70-68, heading to the fourth quarter.
June Mar Fajardo, who bagged the Ramon Fernandez Finals MVP award, then imposed his might in the final 12 minutes, scoring six points for an 80-73 lead before Marcio Lassiter buried his third and final basket from the three-point arc to extend the Beermen’s advantage to double digits with 4:30 remaining.
TNT scored only four points from that point on.
Oftana, who went scoreless in the final quarter, also had seven rebounds, and five assists and shot 6-of-9 from three-point range. But he was quick to accept the fate of the Tropang 5G.
“Ganun talaga ang buhay. May panalo, may talo,”he stressed.
“Sabi ko nga sa sarili ko, pini-pray ko Lord kung para sa amin ito, Thy will be done palagi. Kung ano ang gusto Niya,” Oftana added. “This is the outcome and we have to accept it. Move forward na.”
Oftana said the next few days will entirely be devoted to his family.
“Pahinga muna ngayon with my wife, with my family back home. Marami ding oras na wala ako sa kanila dahil sa training at mga games,” he said of his plans prior to joining Gilas Pilipinas ahead of the Fiba window.
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