UNIVERSITY of the Philippines’ Chicco Briones knew what was at stake when he stepped to the free throw line on Saturday night.
With the Fighting Maroons trailing Far Eastern University by two points and just three seconds left on the clock, Briones suddenly found himself shouldering the burden of a possible game-tying opportunity.
It was not supposed to be his moment, initially.
Veejay Pre had just drawn a foul from Marc Burgos on a transition play, but an awkward landing forced the former out of the game for a mandatory substitution. With Pre unable to take the free throws, head coach Goldwin Monteverde looked to his bench to determined who would take the shots.
Briones, who had only two points at that point, did not hesitate.
After all, he had been perfect from the charity stripe, converting all 10 of his attempts this UAAP Season 89. And with his coach trusting him to take the shots, Briones had every reason to believe he could deliver.
“The confidence and the trust that he gave me, it meant a lot,” he said of Monteverde's decision to send him to the charity stripe in lieu of Pre.
Basketball, however, does not always give players the ending they envision.
READ: FEU repeats over UP to rise to solo third in tight playoff race
Briones missed both free throws, leaving UP with a 71-68 defeat and a moment that would undoubtedly stay with him long after the final buzzer.
“Clearly, it was a miss. I felt like I let down a lot of people, for sure, the whole UP community. I’ve been waiting for this moment and I feel like I didn’t step up to it,” he admitted.
And while the outcome was far from what he wanted, the veteran guard refused to blame pressure for his misses.
He was confident. He was relaxed. He simply failed to convert when it mattered most.
That, however, only gave him more reason to return to the gym and put in more work.
“I still need to do more of those shots, the free throw shots. I still need to do more reps, more practice, and I’m going to keep working,” he said.
There is no taking those misses back - and he knows that better than anyone.
Fightback for Fighting Maroons
But if there was one thing the Cebuano gunner wanted to make clear, it was that this loss would not be where his story with the Fighting Maroons ends.
“That’s life. You fall seven times and you always rise on the eighth. That was the seventh time I fell, so I’ll make sure that I’ll rise on the eighth, which is the next game,” he said.
With a week to recover before facing modern-day rival La Salle, Briones and the Fighting Maroons are already looking to turn the painful defeat into something they can learn from.
“We’re going to be locked in for sure. That loss to FEU was very personal. Every loss that we had this season was very personal,” he said.
The two missed free throws may have cost State U a chance to extend the game, but they should not erase the confidence that brought Briones to the line in the first place.
He was given the ball because his coach trusted him. He took the shots because he believed he could make them.
And when the next opportunity comes, Briones intends to stand at that line again.
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