ANTIPOLO — Calvin Abueva took over in the endgame to lift Titan Ultra past Terrafirma, 111-108, and keep their flickering playoff hopes alive in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup, Saturday at the Ynares Center here.
The ‘Beast’ finished with fantasy-like numbers of 20 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and three blocks as he pulled out all the stops to make sure that they won’t be the team that the Dyip would end their losing skid to.
After Maverick Ahanmisi missed the free throws that would’ve widened their lead to three, the 36-year-old made him pay dearly for it by swishing in the go-ahead floater off a Fran Yu dime for the 107-106 edge with 57.6 seconds left.
He then delivered the most important swat of the night by denying Jerrick Ahanmisi’s layup, then hauled down the loose ball before dishing it out to a wide-open Joshua Munzon for the uncontested bucket to make it 109-106.
Terrafirma did show some signs of life behind Louie Sangalang’s after-timeout bucket and even made a key stop afterward by stripping the ball away from a driving Abueva, but Lady Luck simply wasn’t in their favor.
Cade Flores stole the rock from Aljon Mariano, and Munzon would go on to settle the final count with a perfect trip to the line with 2.7 seconds left.
A miss by Jerrick Ahanmisi as time expired was all enough for TItan Ultra to snap its two-game losing slide and earn its third win of the conference.
