This time, there was no Jacob Cortez to bail La Salle out of trouble.
No, he didn’t call in sick.
This time, he was collared by a dreaded dragnet, reducing him into a gangland-type mugging victim in a dark alley peopled by mobsters.
With University of the Philippines protecting a 65-62 lead on a clutch jumper by Gerry “The Scary” Abadiano with 1:01 left, Cortez would lose the ball to a swarming UP defense in the last 49 seconds of the game.
Still, Cortez, unrestrainable as ever like a Doberman gone berserk, would resurface 11.9 ticks later.
But his game-tying three from right quartercourt, a shot he’d been so almost perfect several times only a while back, was a complete dud — a result of UP’s choking ambush defense.
Chaos in the rebound battle won by UP’s Francis Nnoruka resulted, rather strangely, in the referees’ verdict to award a technical free throw to Cortez — to the consternation of the Maroon throng from the jam-packed crowd of 22,412 at the MOA Arena in Pasay City on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Cortez “The Cool Cub” made the charity to shove La Salle to within 63-65.
After Abadiano, who had earlier strung up six straight points for UP’s 65-62 breakaway from 59-all, missed on a drive, La Salle took ball possession with 23 ticks left.
There was killing drama after that — one that forced Bob Diciembre, the UP alumnus who is now the hard-nosed executive director of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, to hear Mass instead “to skip the heart-stopping action.”
With barely four seconds left, La Salle’s 6-foot-2 Vhoris Marasigan, who had earlier pushed La Salle to within 62-63 at the 1:24 mark, went for the lead-grabbing three.
For a while there, the ball was in, mercifully rattling the rim thrice before the goal gruesomely spat the leather out to the utter dejection of La Salle fans.
With that sorry Vhoris miss, the Maroons survived dethronement and will live to defend their crown one last time on Wednesday, Dec. 17, against the Archers at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Q.C.
And while Abadiano basks in the glory of his game-winning heroics, Rey Remogat quietly relishes his own contribution.
A dismal dud in Game 1, Remogat reappeared to score 12 decisive points in Game 2 — all from three-point country — to rightfully earn the moniker, “Redemption Remogat.”
I can’t wait to watch Game 3.