IT WAS a weekend disaster too hurtful to forget.
Northport was almost consistently leading by twin digits. Then it scored only two points in the third quarter.
What the hell happened?
Did the Batang Pier boys leave the PBA bubble and stray into Clark’s casinos? Or go to the water park and frolic in the sun? Was Pido Jarencio coaching at all?
But Jarencio, my three-point idol in his heyday, somehow still got the gods to smile at him, almost dodging the so-called bullet when Rain or Shine failed to capitalize.
So, instead of getting thoroughly smashed, Northport was a picture of heroism, gallantly recovering from that monumental two-point slip in the third frame.
What? Just two points in a 12-minute span?
Was that a comedy, charade?
If they were toddlers of the nursery type, or even the “hamog boys” maybe, forgivable.
But they were the Batang Pier—all professional basketball players.
Almost inconceivable.
Anyway, the Batang Pier, purging themselves of any voodoo-woodoo witchcraft, so befuddled the Elasto Painters with a stellar fourth-quarter performance and nearly won.
Northport even pulled off a controversial ending—not totally of its own making, mind you—that instantly drew a debate dreaded most by PBA Commissioner Willy Marcial: the referee’s role once again.
After Christian Standhardinger, the Northport’s heart and soul, squeezed in an awkward jumper against two defenders to tie the count at 68 with 3.3 seconds left, the game’s main meat materialized.
Painter Rey Nambatac drove in heavy traffic with 1.3 seconds left, kissed the floor next and—holy cow—he earned a foul from a stunned Paolo Taha.
Poor Paolo merely raised his hands, standing beside Nambatac as vertically erect as an electric post. Still, he was tagged with a foul by referee Sherwin Pineda.
Nambatac nailed both charities for Rain or Shine’s referee-aided 70-68 victory.
“The refs don’t decide the game,” said Jarencio.
Agree.
“It’s just an ugly win for us,” said Painters coach Caloy Garcia.
I couldn’t agree more.
TV replays showed Nambatac falling on his own.
About time the PBA copied the NBA: coach’s challenge to a referee’s call.