Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Kib Montalbo had the ball in his hands with 7.8 seconds left in the game with La Salle holding a 75-74 lead.
All he had to do was give it to Andrei Caracut and let the clock run out.
Matt Nieto, however, had other plans and denied Caracut the ball and tapped Montalbo’s pass away.
That however wasn’t the last of Montalbo’s mistakes as he fouled Nieto with 3.9 seconds left in the game.
Nieto went on to hit the game-winning free throws as Ateneo escaped with a 76-75 victory.
READ: Matt Nieto ‘relaxed’ amid pressure-packed moment
Montalbo kept mum on the costly play and all he could do is look forward to the Green Archers’ next games.
“I have no comment on that [inbound pass],” said Montalbo Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena. “We’re going to bounce back, we felt that we could’ve won that game. We’ll bounce back.”
La Salle finished the first round with a 5-2 record, two games behind the 7-0 Blue Eagles, and Montalbo is already raring to lead the Green Archers against Far Eastern University on Wednesday.
“Thank you Lord we’ll be playing immediately,” said Montalbo. “That way we won’t feel the sting of our loss today that much. We’ll bounce back and we’ll get the victory.”