A back-up power forward and occasional center now in the twilight of a 14-year career has turned into an unlikely power source that carried the Meralco Bolts back in solid contention again for a first title in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Reynel Hugnatan, a 38-year-old, set-shooting southpaw from Bacolod City, proved to be a brilliant replacement for the injured and former Gilas Pilipinas mainstay Ranidel de Ocampo as the Bolts hacked out back-to-back decisions over defending champion Barangay Ginebra to tie their best-of-seven title rematch for the Governors’ Cup at 2-all.
The 6-foot-4 Hugnatan was red-hot with 22 points as the Bolts took Game 3, 94-81, and had 14 points in Game 4 on top of four assists, the last an undergoal feed with 46 seconds left that import Allen Durham turned into the winning basket in an 85-83 decision.
His unexpected scoring rampage came after the Gin Kings had opened the title series with a 102-87 rout in Lucena City and then followed it up with an 86-76 win behind the heroics of LA Tenorio.
And where was Hugnatan in the first two games?
He scored only two points playing a little over five minutes in Game 1 and was scoreless in nearly seven minutes of action in Game 2.
On both occasions, he subbed for De Ocampo, who was not a factor with only eight points in Game 1 and 10 in Game 2.
Recruited from sister team TNT KaTropa late in the elimination round, De Ocampo avoided further embarrassment when he tore his left calf muscle in the first quarter of Game 3.
But the injury that eventually ended De Ocampo’s season turned out to be the crucial break in Meralco’s campaign with Hugnatan responding beyond expectations.
Hugnatan joined hands with Durham and Garvo Lanete in a 20-4 closing burst that decided Game 3. He capped the strong finish with his seventh triple in 12 attempts and wound up just six points behind the game-high 28 of Durham, who was honored as Best Import for the second straight year before Game 2.
Durham again had 28 in Game 4 with Chris Newsome finally responding with 18 but the winning play was supplied by Hugnatan with his key assist on Durham.
With four triples in Game 4, Hugnatan has a runaway total of 11 three-pointers in just two games.
“Now we have a series,” said Meralco coach Norman Black, who is bidding anew to give the Bolts a first title since joining the league in 2010.
The Bolts lost last year’s title showdown in six games after taking a 2-1 lead.
(Ginebra won Sunday night’s Game 5 at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, to take a 3-2 lead. Game 6 and Game 7, if necessary, are also set at the same venue.)