Undeniably notable was the moment shared by Barkley Ebona and Mark Barroca right after the buzzer sounded in Blackwater’s shocker of a victory against Magnolia in its 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup ender, Wednesday night.
The young big man was seen hugging the star guard from behind, with both beaming brightly as if they weren’t coming off a down-the-wire affair that ultimately saw the Bossing end their league-worst 29-game losing skid.
Ebona shared that he was just ribbing his ‘Kuya Mark’ at that time after being on the receiving end of what he called the latter’s ‘mind games.’
“Si Kuya Mark kasi, down the stretch, nagma-mind games siya sa’kin e. Mina-mind games niya ‘ko. Kinukulit niya ‘ko ng kinukulit,” he shared in between chuckles to Tiebreaker Times a day after their 101-100 win.
The 6-foot-6 forward was actually the one who pushed his team’s lead to 92-81 through a three-point play with 5:02 left. And Barroca’s antics, he said, happened during his trips to the foul line, clearly trying to distract him.
“Nung nagfi-free throw ako nung mga crucial, ginugulo niya talaga ako,” shared Ebona, who went 4-of-5 from the stripe in the game.
“Sinasabi ko sa kanya, ‘Kuya Mark, ‘wag mo ‘kong guluhin, hayaan mo ‘ko mag-focus dito.'”
Barroca was the one who carried the fight for the Hotshots. He scored 12 of his 27 points in the final period, including the tough bank shot over Shawn Glover that gave the top seed the 100-99 lead with 48.2 seconds left.
But the night belonged to Ebona and Co. The sophomore made the tough go-ahead bucket off a JVee Casio dime with 10.5 seconds left – a shot the team had as Barroca lost the ball due to Blackwater’s trap in the backcourt.
Photo by PBA Images
“Inisip ko, kung kaya ko i-finish, i-finish ko na. Basta importante lang, ingatan ko ‘yung bola, hindi ko ma-turnover, ma-attempt ko ng maayos. Masaya naman ako, na-capitalize ko,” he shared of that gritty play.
“Sumabay pa si [Aris] Dionisio. Ang taas ng buwelo ni Dionisio e. Tapos si Kuya Mark, nasa harapan ko pa. Parang nakaka-ilang din i-lay up. Swerte na lang din talaga, na naipasok ko pa ‘yung bola,” he added.
Thus, the elation on Ebona’s part that the Bossing came out triumphant, not to mention, of course, that he also got the best of the 35-year-old.
“After nung game, niyakap ko lang siya, sabi ko, ‘Buti na lang Kuya Mark, binitawan mo ‘yung bola.’ Sabi ko rin na salamat at naka-butas din kami ng isa. Natawa lang din siya. Nagtawanan na lang kami,” he said.
“Close din naman kami ni Kuya Mark,” added the FEU product, who became close with the former King Tamaraw only during his rookie year in the league.
But in all seriousness, Ebona’s respect towards Barroca drew even bigger as he witnessed how his veteran wits came into play that night.
“I was like, ‘Ganito pala sa PBA.’ Like, lahat pwede mong gawin, basta manalo lang — ‘wag mo lang saktan. Kumbaga, i-distract mo lang hangga’t sa kaya mo ‘yung player. Lumabas ‘yung pagka-beterano ni Kuya Mark dun,” he said.
Winning is something that Ebona and Blackwater have finally tasted after a very long while. And so, the former fourth overall pick hopes that the entire squad will be able to carry that moving forward, as they aim to rack up more.
“Malaking bagay ‘to, kasi we ended our conference on a high note. Sana pagbalik namin sa ensayo, madala namin. Process kasi e, hindi basta-basta. Build up lang,” said the 26-year-old from Cebu.
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