Blackwater’s Barkley Eboña celebrates after hitting the game-winning basket against Magnolia, 101-100, in the PBA Governors’ Cup. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—The streak is finally over.
Blackwater ended a historic 29-game slump with a stunning win over league leader Magnolia, 101-100, in its final game in the PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Rey Suerte delivered the dramatic win for the Bossing as he blocked Jackson Corpuz’s potential game-winning layup as time expired.
BLACKWATER ENDS THEIR 29-GAME LOSING STREAK!#PBAiTuloyAngLaban pic.twitter.com/iM4UyrwwhH
— PBA (@pbaconnect) March 9, 2022
“I’m happy was able to respond, even though we’ve been losing a lot of games, our owners were still there supporting us and that fired the players up,” said Vanguardia whose team’s losing streak started back in the 2020 Philippine Cup.
“The monkey’s off our backs now.”
Blackwater, however, nearly stretched its losing streak to 30 as it squandered an 11-point fourth quarter lead, 92-81, allowing the Hotshots to take a 100-99 buffer with 48 seconds to play.
Blackwater’s Barkley Eboña hit the game-winning basket against Magnolia during the PBA Governors’ Cup. PBA IMAGES
Magnolia even had possession with 17 seconds left but Paul Desiderio tipped the ball off of Mark Barroca allowing JVee Casio to feed it to the cutting Barkley Eboña for the game’s final basket with 10.5 seconds to play.
The Bossing chalked their first and lone victory of the conference as they wrapped up their campaign at 1-10 while the Hotshots, who are already assured of a twice-to-beat bonus in the quarterfinals, slipped to 9-2.
Shawn Glover led Blackwater with 33 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and three steals while Suerte pitched in 16 points and five rebounds.
Barroca had 27 points and five assists to lead Magnolia while Mike Harris had 21 points, 17 rebounds, and two steals.