PHIL CUP EXPERIENCE ENOUGH MOTIVATION FOR ELITE
With Kia winning earlier in the night and upsetting Talk ‘N Text, Blackwater hoped it could likewise pull the rug from under Barangay Ginebra.
Trailing by as much as 16, the Elite fought back and did what it could to nail its second franchise win.
JP Erram was one of those who helped Blackwater crawl back in the fourth as they trimmed the lead down to two, 77-75 with four minutes left to play. Unfortunately, Ginebra would answer back with an 8-0 tear and take the 89-82 win.
“Gusto lang naming maka-stop every possession,” the former Ateneo Bule Eagle said. “Gusto lang namin makahabol at dumikit yung laban. From there, tingnan namin kung kaya manalo.”
All of his 11 points came in the payoff period, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Elite from falling to 1-6 in the standings.
With four games left in their schedule, the door to the playoffs could be starting to close for Blackwater.
“Ang iniisip namin positive. May game pa rin kami so we have to maximize yung four games na natitira. We have to give our best para makapasok sa quarterfinals,” Erram said.
He also added that the team does not mind if Kia has already slain three giants this conference, as Erram said, “We have a different team, different players, different characters on the team. We can manage naman kung ano yung meron sa amin. It doesn’t matter kung tatlo na yung panalo nila.”
What matters to them, however, is their own fate. And what they want is to just erase the bitter memories of the Philippine Cup.
“Yung last conference, enough motivation na yun na we didn’t win any games,” said Erram. “Sapat na yun to be a motivation for us to strive to win this conference.” (RL)
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