NLEX’s Calvin Oftana. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—His night may have ended in defeat but Calvin Oftana’s offensive outburst put him in the PBA’s history books.
The third overall pick of the 2020 Draft lit up for 34 points, including a rookie-record eight three-pointers, in NLEX’s 104-101 loss to Meralco in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday.
Oftana’s long range barrage broke PBA legend Allan Caidic’s 34-year-old record of seven threes set in Game 2 of the 1987 Open Conference Finals while playing for Great Taste.
Just like Oftana, Caidic and his team lost that game 135-134 in overtime against Tanduay.
The San Beda product went 8-of-11 from deep, 12-of-18 overall, in just 29 minutes of play but his biggest shots came down the stretch when the Road Warriors clawed back from 101-82 down in the final seven minutes of the game.
Oftana put on a show in the final 1:40, hitting three three-pointers that could’ve tied the game at 101-all if not for Bong Quinto’s floater in the middle of that shooting spree that allowed the Bolts to hold on to a 103-101 buffer with 2.4 seconds to play.