Best yet to come, vows Magnolia import Farr

MANILA, Philippines—Jet-lagged and all, James Farr–who flew into the Philippines just a couple of days before his PBA debut with Magnolia in the Commissioner’s Cup–came up with a performance that was heavy on effort but light on output.

The 6-foot-10 big man put up a paltry 11 points, on 5-of-26 shooting, but he did collect 14 rebounds, four steals and one block in the Hotshots’ 102-99 loss to NorthPort.

Understandably, he feels like there’s no way to go but up.

“I’m still dealing with a bit of jet lag but no excuses, my teammates played really hard,” said Farr Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “They fought through adversity and I couldn’t be more proud. I can’t wait to see the journey of this team.”

Despite his paltry shooting, Farr said he didn’t find any negative feedback from his teammates, who continued to feed him the ball and encouraged him all the way through.

“I didn’t shoot the ball well at all but my teammates gave me confidence for the next game,” said Farr, who replaced John Fields, who suffered a severe ankle sprain just two days prior to Magnolia’s game.

It also helped that the 0-2 Hotshots nearly stole the win from the league leading Batang Pier, who improved to a 5-1 record.

The Hotshots were down 90-77 with 5:06 left to play when they slowly chipped away at the deficit to get to as close as three, 98-95, after Justin Melton’s free throws with around 35 seconds left.

Sean Anthony, however, notched his own charity shots to ice the game, 100-95, with less than 10 seconds to play.