SMART CLARK GIGA CITY — Reynel Hugnatan has been the talk of the town since Sunday night, with fans pinpointing him as the voice behind the blatant ‘luto’ accusations against referees, heard loud and clear on national TV.
The veteran big man, however, denied the allegations and simply shrugged off the comments. And there was no proof that it was him, either, since the PBA found no solid evidence of the heckler’s identity after an investigation.
Wednesday came, and Meralco battled Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game Four of their 2020 Philippine Cup best-of-five semifinal series. And, yes, Hugnatan was once again in headlines after the match.
But it wasn’t because of anything controversial whatsoever.
The 42-year-old saved the Bolts from elimination, helping his side eke out an 83-80 win to force a sudden death — and give themselves one more chance to make it to the championship round.
Hugnatan drilled a long jumper from the right elbow to give Meralco the 81-80 lead with 15.1 seconds left. Raymond Almazan and the rest of the Bolts then doubled down on defense on their way to the victory.
“‘Yung play kasi nun, kay [Chris] Newsome ‘yun eh.
“So nung time na si New na-cover, tamang-tama nakita niya naka-open. So nung pinasa sa’kin, wala na akong ibang inisip kundi tumira. Sa awa ng Diyos, pumasok naman,” he said.
The evergreen Negrense came off the bench and finished with a game-high 19 points, spiked by three three-pointers. He also collected four rebounds and four assists in the 27 minutes and 29 seconds he played.
It’s as if Hugnatan played with a chip on his shoulder after being the center of discussions the past few days. But head coach Norman Black said otherwise, that the now-infamous incident is actually a ‘non-issue’ for them.
“I gotta be honest with you. We haven’t really talked about that. It’s not our focus. Just focused on the game. Reynel has not said a word to me about that since it happened. And I haven’t talked to him about it either,” he said.
“So it’s kind of a non-issue, as far as we’re concerned.”
