Kim Aurin emerged as the unlikely hero who saved TNT past San Miguel in overtime, 93-90, to register back-to-back wins for the first time in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup, Saturday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The young guard hardly showed any jitters and knocked down a tough trifecta from the corner—amid a foul from opposing import George King—to give themselves the lead for good at 89-87 with only 25.9 seconds remaining.
He wasn’t able to complete the four-point play but Aurin didn’t stop, as he chased down his own miss to secure the offensive rebound.
The comebacking Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson then came through with another heavy bucket, scoring on a layup off a drive to push their lead to 9-187 with 10.4 seconds remaining as the door slowly closed on their long-time rivals.
King missed his first free throw and intentionally did as much in the second as the crew tried to regain the possession, but the Tropang 5G seemingly read their plan as Rey Nambatac managed to beat Jericho Cruz in the loose ball.
The lefty guard—who lifted themselves past Converge with a game-winning triple—then went on to ice the game with a perfect trip to the line as the defending champions eventually hiked their record to 3-2 in Group A.
“I really dont know how we did it,” said coach Chot Reyes. “But I know how important mindset is. We could’ve had an attitude where we said, ‘Overtime na naman’ … that’s why I made it a point to reframe it into a positive mindset.”
