For the second straight time, the towering Japeth Aguilar proved to be the offensive lynchpin for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, firing 32 points on an excellent 59.1 percent shooting in Saturday night’s Game Five.
But for the second straight time also, his efforts went for naught, as the Gin Kings lost to June Mar Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen, 94-100, and were kicked out of the 2018 Philippine Cup race to the championship bout.
“Siyempre do-or-die kami. Focus lang ako kung anong kailangan kong gawin, ginagawa ko… Shumoo-shoot lang yung mga shots ko. 32 points nga pero, still, talo,” rued the 31-year-old, who had 31 points in Game Four, where they also lost, 102-81.
“Binigay namin lahat. Pero credit talaga sa San Miguel. They’re a tough team. Sobrang lakas nila.”
It definitely wasn’t the way Ginebra had envisioned their All-Filipino stint to end. But for Aguilar, it was still a good run, considering that they’d had to deal with the injuries of Sol Mercado, Joe Devance, and Greg Slaughter this conference.
“Sa dami ng pinagdaanan namin this conference… Joe and Sol was injured. Greg was injured. But we still fought till the end,” said the 6-foot-9 slotman.
“‘Di naman kami nagkulang, malakas lang talaga yung San Miguel.”
Now that the end has come, Aguilar and the Barangay have no choice but to flip the page and write another chapter. Their sights are now locked on to the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup, where they will get a truly solid boost to their campaign.
“Sana ma-maintain namin iyong health ng bawat isa. We’re looking forward to Justin Brownlee coming back,” said the nine-year league veteran, who averaged 26.6 points and 8.6 rebounds in this semifinal series.
“Kinausap kami about the off-season. And ayun, we’ll take a break daw muna and just look forward for the next conference.”
