Maverick Ahanmisi has no regrets over his performance in the conclusion of the Rain or Shine-Alaska game in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup, on Friday.
The third-year guard had a chance to milk the clock at the end of regulation, but opted to score on a lay-up that gave the Elasto Painters a 94-91 lead with 2.9 seconds remaining.
However, Chris Banchero drained a big triple at the buzzer on the other end to knot the score at 94 as the Aces forced overtime.
“We were thinking about quotient. You don’t really think somebody’s going to hit a game winner in three seconds. But it was a big shot by Chris,” Ahanmisi explained. “If I were to do it again, I’d do the same thing.”
The Fil-Am guard also got a shot be the hero in extra time, but he flubbed his two free throws with 18.7 ticks remaining with Rain or Shine holding a precarious a 105-103 lead.
“All I was thinking was that I just got to get back on defense,” he said.
Ahanmisi managed to redeem himself as he leaked out to the open court and scored on an open layup with 2.9 seconds left after Gabe Norwood secured the big steal from Alaska import Antonio Campbell.
“I saw Gabe tip the ball and the import wasn’t looking at me when the ball was in the air, so I knew I had the chance to go and get it. Good hands on Gabe to allow me to get that ball,” he said.
Rain or Shine went on and take the 109-103 overtime victory over Alaska and all Ahanmisi, who finished the game with 11 points and four rebounds, could feel was an undeniable sense of relief.
“It was a big win for us over a good team over there. They’re definitely going to contend for a title this conference and for us to beat them, it says a lot about our character,” he said.