Barkley Eboña got an open chance to send Blackwater’s game against Converge to overtime late in regulation – but he missed point blank.
And the 6-foot-6 big man knew he could make that routine shot. Unfortunately, though, tonight was just not his night.
With the FiberXers ahead by two with 8.4 seconds remaining, the Bossing called for a timeout.
Jvee Casio received the ball behind the arc and penetrated the basket, dishing the ball to Eboña. His teammate was wide open underneath but his shot was strong, giving Converge the 92-90 win in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup.
“Ako rin nagulat eh. Nagulat ako kasi sobrang open ko saka parang natamaan ako dito eh (points to his wrist). Akala ko kasi tatawagan,” said Eboña, Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Ayun mali ko kasi nine seconds dapat let go na. Dapat fininish strong ko, go hard ako sa ring pero yun nga wala talaga.
“Open talaga, kita ko ‘yung ring eh nag-miss lang talaga. Actually hindi naman nila ako sinisi na hindi ko na shoot,” he added, saying Blackwater had many missed chances down the stretch.
It was not only Eboña who thought that his attempt was a no-brainer, made shot already though. Even Converge head coach Jeffrey Cariaso breathed a sigh of relief when the former flunked it.
The victory allowed the FiberXers to stay alive in the playoffs race at 5-6, now at eighth place.
“I think he only misses that once out of the next 1,000 attempts from the same spot,” said Cariaso of Eboña.
“We’ve been lucky and sometimes it’s good to be lucky I guess right?” the bench tactician added.
The Bossing, after their dream 5-1 start, have now lost four straight games at 5-5 with Magnolia their last opponent on Friday.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
