It was a reunion of sorts on Friday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, when Marqus Blakely met his brothers in the Purefoods franchise – his home in the PBA from 2012 to 2016 and where he won titles and a Best Import plum.
But now, everything is different. Blakely is on the other side with the TNT KaTropa, who picked him up in early September as their third import for the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup, coming in after to Mike Glover and Stacy Davis.
Blakely played inspired basketball versus his former team. The 6-foot-5 American tallied a rare triple-double of 17 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists in the 45 minutes and seven seconds he graced the floor.
But all of his efforts went for naught, as the night belonged to the Hotshots, 116-103, with 6-foot-7 center Ian Sangalang leading the charge with 28 points – just a point shy of his career-high – alongside six rebounds and two blocks.
Sangalang, who first met Blakely back in his rookie year in 2013, didn’t feel any differently about seeing his former teammate. For him, they had a much more important business to handle, and that was to conquer TNT.
“Ganun naman talaga, maliit lang ang mundo ng basketball.
“Hindi mo masasabi kung kailan kayo magsasama. Pero yun nga, mangyayari at mangyayari yun. Siyempre pagdating sa loob ng court, laro lang, gawin lang namin best namin,” the 26-year-old said. “Pero masaya naman, at least nandito pa rin siya sa PBA naglalaro. Masaya kami para sa kanya.”
After facing Blakely – who helped seal San Mig Coffee’s Grand Slam in 2014 – another tough contest looms on the horizon for the Hotshots: facing rivals Barangay Ginebra San Miguel this Sunday in another Manila Clasico.
“Isa sa game yun na maaano namin yung bawat isa sajmin kasi Ginebra ‘pag kalaban mo talagang pahirapan,” Sangalang opined. “Mate-test namin yung character namin on Sunday, kung hanggang saan kami.
“Magandang game yun kasi parehas kami halos ng standings. Manila Clasico maganda naman talaga lagi game. Hopefully manalo kami sa Sunday.”
