Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Roger Pogoy kept on shooting no matter how many he’s missed.
Until finally, the one that mattered most went in.
Pogoy was 2-of-19 from the field and 0-of-6 from downtown before sinking the game-winning triple to tow Phoenix-FEU over Cafe France, 85-84, as the Accelerators moved one win away from winning the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup title.
READ: Pogoy hits winner as Phoenix-FEU moves a win away from title
Though he made the game’s biggest basket, Pogoy admitted he had lost his confidence as his shooting percentage continued to plummet as threw one miss after another.
“I had already lost confidence with my shot because every shot I took from first to fourth quarter just wouldn’t fall,” he said in Filipino.
But after the ball found its way back into his hands with the clock winding down, Pogoy was left with no choice but to take another shot.
“Achie (Iñigo) was able to recover the loose ball and pass it to me. The clock was running down and I really need to take the shot and it went in,” Pogoy recalled, whose last-second triple came after Phoenix’s previous two attempts, one by Mike Tolomia and the other by Ed Daquioag, were denied by Bakers’ shot blocking center Rod Ebondo.
Pogoy nailed the clutch trey with only 2.3 seconds left.
“It was really a blessing from God because it turned out to be the last shot and it won the game for us,” he said.
Pogoy hopes his team will be able to close out Cafe France in Game 4 but knows it won’t be easy given the Bakers’ championship experience.
“If we can finish it in Game 4, we will finish it. They’re really a veteran team and they’re using their experience against us.”
Game 4 is on Tuesday at San Juan Arena.