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MANILA, Philippines—It was never a question of whether or not Blackwater is capable of breaking out of a notoriously horrendous slump. For Magnolia coach Chito Victolero, it was simply a question of when.
That’s how the champion mentor framed his Hotshots’ 101-100 loss to the Bossing Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
So don’t count him losing sleep over being perpetually attached to a breakthrough win that will be put into the league’s annals.
“It was bound to happen—that (Blackwater) finally gets to win,” he told a pair of reporters on his way out of the Big Dome. “They just didn’t know when. It happened tonight.”
Unable to get something going in the final moments of the contest, the No. 1-seeded Hotshots will go down as the Bossing’s first-ever victim after enduring a record 29-game losing streak.
“They deserved to win. They worked hard,” said Victolero. “And those are things that could not be taken away from them.”
“We had chances (to win the game) earlier. We were just short of securing them,” he added.
If anything, the champion coach said this is something that could come in handy going into the playoffs, where Magnolia is set to draw the yet-to-be-determined twice-to-win No. 8 seed, practically the lightest possible assignment in the quarterfinals.
“And I know my players they will be ready for the (next phase),” he said.
“This game is a learning experience for us,” he added. “So we need to keep staying hungry, stay focused and adopt the right attitude going into war.”