Even at 40, Arwind Santos remains as reliable as ever.
The 2013 PBA Most Valuable Player showed as much Sunday, drilling the game-winning jumper to help San Miguel avert a major collapse versus NorthPort. The Beermen collected their second straight victory in the 2021 Philippine Cup.
His shot off a Marcio Lassiter dime with 1.2 seconds left saved the Beermen from blowing a 16-point lead they established early in the final frame. Robert Bolick earlier tied the game up at 86-all after sinking the technical free throw.
That came off Santos’ technical foul after elbowing Batang Pier’s Sidney Onwubere while they were both on the floor with 7.3 ticks remaining. But the decorated vet has more than made up for that blunder with his heroic act.
Santos is now in his 15th season in the PBA, and he has shown no signs of slowing down. Asked what keeps him going, the nine-time champion revealed plenty of motivations for the cage wars.
“Ang dami ko kasing dahilan, ‘no. Unang-una, sa pamilya ko. Tapos ‘yung team namin sa stretch four, ako tapos si Mo [Tautuaa] na lang. Kulang nga kami sa big man pa eh,” he said after their 88-86 victory.
“Tapos, nacha-challenge din ako dahil andudun ‘yung pagka-miss natin sa basketball ‘no, kasi ang tagal nawala. Pagkatapos ng bubble, matagal tayong nakabalik. Ngayon, nakabalik tayo, nakaka-miss.”
Rarely do we see players at such an age still play at a high level. But the PBA 40 Greatest Players member doesn’t think about age, with his focus mainly on how he can keep up with younger talents.
Photo by PBA Images
“Ako, hindi ko iniisip kung anong edad ko ngayon eh,” said Santos, who turned 40 last June 10.
“Iniisip ko kung paano pa rin ako makakapag-contribute, at makakasabay sa mga kabataan na magagaling ngayon.”
And contribute he did versus NorthPort. His clutch shot served as a fitting way to cap off his best game of the season so far. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and three blocks.
Santos, though, couldn’t feel happier to have won. And he did not hug the spotlight all to himself, tipping his hat to his teammates especially CJ Perez, who top-scored for SMB with 18 points off the bench.
“Thank you nanalo kami,” he said.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa tiwala ng coaches sa amin, especially kay coach Leo [Austria]. At siyempre ‘yung mga teammates namin, lalo na ‘yung mga bagong dumating kagaya nina CJ [Perez], sobrang laki ng contribution nila.”
Now, the Kapampangan star hopes that the Beermen will be able to sustain their winning ways moving forward into the conference, where they are one of the favorites to win it all.
“Sana ma-maintain namin ‘to dahil ‘di namin kailangan maging overconfident or isipin na kayang-kaya na namin lahat ng kalaban. Kasi lahat ng kalaban malalakas din, so kailangan namin silang paghandaan.”
