Meralco’s Reynel Hugnatan. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
After draining his third three-point shot in the fourth quarter last night that helped key a 107-103 Game 3 win by Meralco over Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, Reynel Hugnatan made a motion with his hands as if holstering guns.
Coach Norman Black will have him take those pistols out for the rest of the series to help the Bolts stay afloat for the remainder of this title playoffs, which Meralco now leads, 2-1, after winning an old-fashioned shootout with the Gin Kings at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“That’s no fluke, he did it in the Talk ‘N Text series,” Black said of Hugnatan, a 37-year-old defensive whiz who has made the biggest offensive ripple in the endgame for the Bolts, who regained control of the best-of-seven series before an animated throng of 14,000-strong.
“I will let him keep taking those shots,” Black said after Hugnatan—who missed his first four triple tries—made his last three inside the final 2:36 that shoved the Bolts to within two more victories of a first-ever PBA title. “That’s one of the main reasons we’re in the Finals.”
Game 4 is tomorrow at 8:10 p.m. also at the Big Dome.
Jimmy Alapag also drained two crucial triples in the fourth and finished with 18—his highest output in a Meralco jersey—as steady outside sniping from a lot of men helped free Allen Durham inside on the way to a 36-point, 20-rebound night.
Justin Brownlee got away with 42 points, including a triple from easily a third of the floor with 11.2 seconds left that proved to be the last-gasp stand of the Gin Kings, who made coach Tim Cone “upset for 48 minutes.”
“We just got too Justin-reliant and we just didn’t play to our identity,” Cone said. “I was upset for 48 minutes because I thought we didn’t play to our identity. If we had forgotten about that, this (series) is going to get away from us.”
Cone was referring to the balanced local contribution that helped the Kings finish as the third seed after the eliminations before dethroning San Miguel Beer in the Final Four.
Last night, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson combined for just 36 as Brownlee led the Kings with 42 points and looked spent in the waning minutes.