The Mono Vampire BC may have dropped their 8th ABL Finals opener to San Miguel Alab Pilipinas on Sunday night in Laguna, but the club team from Thailand had lots of positives to glance upon.
One of them was Filipino Heritage Import Paul Zamar.
In their 130-143 loss, the 5-foot-10 point guard impressed with 25 points, going 9-of-14 from the field — with four of it coming from beyond-the-arc — along with three rebounds and two assists.
“Inspired lang ako kasi nandito yung family ko,” said the 30-year-old after the match in Santa Rosa, Laguna, as his dad Boycie was in attendance. “Tapos siyempre, nandito kasi tayo sa ‘Pinas.
“Taga-rito ako eh, so itodo na natin.”
However, the way they lost will be something to ponder on in the days leading up to Wednesday’s Game Two, still in Laguna.
Mono had the chance to bag the victory when they led by four, 120-116, after Mike Singletary’s freebies with 19.3 seconds left, making many believe that Alab was dead in the water.
But Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman happened.
Brownlee made a triple first four seconds after Singletary’s foul shots, and Balkman put back Brownlee’s missed shot with 1.3 ticks left to force overtime and stun the visitors.
Brownlee then strapped Alab onto his back in OT, scoring 10 of his record-setting 46 points in the said period to complete what could go down as the most epic of comebacks in ABL playoff history.
“Never say die yan. Pilipino, ‘di yan titigil hanggang mag-buzzer,” rued the Filipino export. “Pero siyempre, lesson learned sa amin.
“Dapat matuto kaming mag-concentrate lalo na sa dying moments ng game.”
And Game One’s loss is what made Zamar reflect that he couldn’t be satisfied with the way he played.
“I can still be better in the coming games,” said the proud product of University of the East. “As a basketball player, hindi ka dapat makuntento sa laro mo.
“You can always do better.”
Now, as Mono looks to equalize on Wednesday, Zamar vowed that he and his team will give it their all.
“We’ll continue to play our best,” he said. “Alam namin we came up short this game, but we can do better. Of course, they’re also gonna do better.
“May the best team win na lang.”
