Confident Henderson-Niles eyes San Miguel sweep

FOR Pierre Henderson-Niles, his goal with Rain or Shine has always been to win a title.

After all, memories of the 2008 National Championship game still lingers in his mind.

With his Memphis Tigers crew holding a nine-point lead in the game’s final 2:12 against the Kansas Jayhawks, he watched as his team continued muffing their freebies before Mario Chalmers drained a huge trey to force an overtime.

“We lost at the buzzer,” Henderson-Niles bitterly recalled, as the Derrick Rose-led Memphis team lost the NCAA title in overtime.

Eight years have passed, and that missed opportunity at a championship keeps on motivating the burly big man wherever league he plays in.

And with Rain or Shine holding a 2-0 series lead against San Miguel in the semifinals, Henderson-Niles knows that no lead is safe and the battle is still not over.

“Anything can happen. They can come back and beat us and win three games in a row, so in this last game, we got to come out and do what we’ve been doing: play defense, move the ball, and keep pushing and running. That’s how we’ve been winning,” he said.

Game 3 is on Thursday at Philsports Arena.

Henderson-Niles shared that ever since arriving to the country, he has slowly gotten himself to his deadly form, saying, “It took me a couple of games to get my wind and get in shape, but I’m there right now. I feel real good getting up-and-down the court.”

And in Game 2, he showed just that, playing a conference-long 37 minutes to deliver 15 points and 16 rebounds.

“Hopefully, I keep getting better. Whatever’s working for us, we got to keep taking that. Hopefully, we get this next game, get this team to the championship, and take this all the way up,” said Henderson-Niles.

“(We’re only) one win away. The most important win is on Thursday. Hopefully, we pull it out.”