Japeth Aguilar. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Japeth Aguilar could only heave that sigh of relief after Barangay Ginebra eked out a heart-stopping win over Star Sunday night.
And he had every reason to feel relieved after almost costing the Gin Kings the game with a careless foul on Malcolm Hill at the last-second of regulation.
“What I was trying for is to go over him. But he stopped, pulled back, and went for a pump-fake. He was able to foul bait me,” recalled the athletic forward.
With Ginebra leading by three, 95-92, Aguilar fouled Hill, who was attempting a three-point shot with 0.6 tenths of a second left.
Hill cooly made his free throws to send the game into overtime.
Fortunately for Aguilar, he was able to atone for his mistake with a follow-up dunk in OT that sealed Ginebra’s sixth straight win.
“I’m proud of my teammates. As the match escalated, we picked each other up and helped each other. It was really a test of character for us,” he said after finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds, and two assists in 30 minutes of play.
“We really got tested in this game. They really came out with ferocity. They played with fire and intensity.”
Ginebra coach Tim Cone explained that there’s no reason for him to dwell on Aguilar’s play with the game still on the line.
“It just happened. We were trying to switch out and we had Japeth out there specifically because he has the ability to switch out on smaller guys. So his instinct on a pump-fake is to jump for the shot, and he just went to his instincts,” Cone said.
“Obviously, it wasn’t a good instinct and it wasn’t the right thing to do, but he just went to his instincts, and in those situations, you just gotta try to stay disciplined,” he added. “But it’s the last play of the game. There’s 15,000 people in the stadium and they’re screaming, and it’s Manila Clasico, so you just gotta move on from it. It’s not that big of a deal, but you just gotta move on.”
Also, had the Kings lost the game, they would have likely blamed it to their horrible 12-of-30 free throw shooting.
“Because of our missed free throws we kept them in the game. We just have to make our free throws and lessen our turnovers,” Aguilar said.