Perfect from field, but not from foul line as Rome dela Rosa typifies Magnolia's free-throw shooting woes

ROME dela Rosa had a field day on Saturday, going on a perfect 6-of-6 clip in Magnolia’s game against Rain or Shine in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

“I didn’t realize it until I looked at the stat sheets,” he said as he amassed 19 points and four rebounds in 34 minutes of action.

However, that immaculate field goal shooting was blemished by his pedestrian shooting from the charity stripe — a facet that could have certainly come into play in a game as tightly contested as this one as the Elasto Painters took the overtime victory over the Hotshots.

“As much as I didn’t miss from the field, I’m thinking more about the missed free throws I had,” rued dela Rosa, who went 3-of-7 from the 15-foot line. “I missed four which certainly could have helped us win the game.”

But the fault wasn’t dela Rosa’s alone, as Magnolia collectively went 12-of-31 on its free throws which accounts for a lackluster 38-percent.

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It was a total role reversal for the Hotshots, who benefitted from Meralco’s poor free-throw shooting in their victory over the Bolts last May 18, but was unable to exploit that discipline this time out.

“It was the case last game, the little things. Meralco missed a lot of free throws and that helped us win the game. Now, it was our turn to miss our free throws and that cost us the game,” he said.

Dela Rosa, though, remains optimistic of Magnolia’s chances moving forward.

“Hopefully, this will be a learning curve for us,” he said as the Hotshots sit at the fifth spot with their 3-2 card. “We need to learn from this loss and correct our mistakes as we move on to our next game.”

Magnolia eyes a bounce back win against Blackwater on Wednesday.

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