IT was as if the collective roar of the 17,112 people packed inside the cauldron-esque Mall of Asia Arena had magically put a lid on the respective rims of both protagonists in the UAAP Season 87 men’s finals on a tense Wednesday night in Pasay.
The score was 76-75 for La Salle with 53 seconds on the clock, the tension inside the arena unmistakable, a sea of anxious people draped in maroon or green all praying their hearts out for a favorable outcome for their respective teams.
Francis Lopez, a strong candidate to win the Finals MVP award if the University of the Philippines had finished the job, was seemingly put in a binding spell that turned him incapable of hitting his free throws in the face of a roaring green crowd that jeered, screamed, and distracted him like a well-disciplined coven.
READ: KQ wills La Salle past UP in Game 2 as UAAP finals goes to Game 3
Making his first four foul shots before this, Lopez clanked his next four in a 31-second span which could’ve saved the Fighting Maroons from disaster after a ridiculous stretch of possessions from back-to-back MVP Kevin Quiambao that brought La Salle back in the driver’s seat.
“Yung mga ganun naman, yung mga missed free throws, yung missed shots, that’s part of the game,” State U coach Goldwin Monteverde shared after the game.
“Ganun naman talaga ang basketball, it’s miss or make lang yan. Ang importante lang, from here, pag-usapan namin next game.”
The binding spell wasn’t isolated to just the UP side of the court, though.
A dozen seconds later, Mike Phillips had the chance to put the Green Archers up by three, but the highly energetic forward also missed his own set of freebies.
Phillips’ misses weren't really a surprise, as for all his brilliance on both ends of the floor, his struggles from the foul line are well-documented.
What’s surprising though, is Quiambao missing his own foul shots five seconds later in a game where he previously hit two highly-contested three-pointers to inject life into La Salle's flatlining title repeat campaign just a few minutes back.
To top it all off, Gerry Abadiano – coming off a clutch Game One performance, missed what would’ve been another championship-winning basket for the Fighting Maroons – allowing the defending champions to reign a few days more, at the very least.
What?! What just happened?!
Green Archers shot-caller Topex Robinson, as expected, was left with just a few words to say about exactly what happened, but was nonetheless grateful for survival – sharing how all he could do in that wild stretch was to pray to the heavens.
“It’s every coach’s dream or nightmare,” Robinson offered.
“Sabi ko nga, 'Lord, 'pag bibigay mo samin 'to, bibigay mo sa'min. 'Pag hindi, ok na 'ko.' Kasi we fought ‘til the final possession,” he added.
Luckily for him, the MOA magic just so happened to favor the Green Archers - and he knows full well how different his post-game interview could’ve gone.
“The basketball gods have been good to us, and the big win for us is these guys didn’t give up. We stuck together. Yun ang pinakaimportante para sa'kin,” he said.
“That last shot by Gerry could’ve come in and finished everything for us. Those threes by Maimai [Cagulangan], I was there when he took the three back in Season 84. It was just going through my head.”
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