AS ‘King Falcon’ Jerom Lastimosa rode into the sunset of a memorable UAAP career, he had his last moment of glory in front of the Adamson faithful.
In the final second of a lopsided loss to Ateneo, rookie Kyle Gamber handed the ball to Lastimosa to take his final UAAP shot from range.
And Jerom made it.
READ: Ateneo whips Adamson in sudden death to reach Final Four vs UP Maroons
“‘Yun lang ang pinaka-hindi ko makakalimutang moment kasi ‘yun ‘yung pinaka-last shot ko sa UAAP,” Lastimosa simply said.
Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin shared how he was more than willing to give Lastimosa a fitting farewell.
“Jerom (Lastimosa)’s been a wonderful servant of UAAP basketball and Philippine basketball in general (…) I’m more than happy to do that and I was proud of my players to assist that moment.
“When you have a 20-point lead, who cares about the three points? If we can make a gesture to a guy who currently is iconic among outstanding players that the UAAP has generated, (why not),” Baldwin said.
“I think that actually shows respect for the game because these are people, not unlike Nash, not unlike myself, not unlike the referees, who are true servants of the game.
“If we can have an opportunity to make such a gesture, it costs us nothing. But it gave Jerom a moment that he might not otherwise have had in front of his fans and a salute as he rides into the sunset costs us nothing,” he added.
But special as the act was, Racela had a rather puzzled reaction.
"I don't know what they were thinking. Do I need to thank them for doing that? I don't know. We just... from our end, we just wanted to field in Jerom and our seniors. Regardless of the score, we wanted the Adamson community to see them one last time before they leave the university. So, yun."
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