Rey Suerte worried so much that it got the best of him.
The fifth-year guard admitted feeling so shaken by one miss that led to him bricking a total of four free throws inside the closing moments of Blackwater’s PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup meeting with NLEX on Wednesday night.
Those shots from the stripe could have altered the ending of the tightly-fought ball game.
They may have even given the Bossing a better chance instead of absorbing a 107-93 defeat that ended their unbeaten three-game streak.
“‘Yun nga eh. Parang naiilang na ‘ko nung sa first na mintis ko kanina sa game. Tapos parang iniisip ko lagi, ba’t ako nagmintis e sobrang dali lang naman ng free throws,” he said shortly after the loss at the Philsports Arena.
“‘Yun ‘yung nangyari.”
Suerte’s first trip to the line at the 1:44-mark was actually an opportunity for him to make Robert Bolick regret picking up his fifth foul of the game.
But he missed both, leading to a Tony Semerad trey on the other end shortly after that pushed NLEX’s lead to 97-92 with 1:20 remaining.
The one-and-done UE Red Warrior did try to make up for that by nailing a triple of his own to cut the gap to three, 100-97, with 43.2 seconds to go.
However, Bolick replied with a three-ball to inflate the Road Warriors’ lead to six.
It proved to be the finishing blow. Blackwater couldn’t chop the gap when Suerte missed another pair of freebies with 20.7 seconds left to play.
In the end, they helplessly watched their foes deal them their first loss of the tilt.
The result also wasted his career-high outing of 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, alongside seven rebounds and four assists.
Still, the Davao native, as tough as it was, is charging as much to experience.
“Yung moment na yun, dun kami makaka-learn about that types of situations,” the 29-year-old said. “Move on lang kami. ‘Yung mga mali naman ngayon, iaadjust namin para hindi na namin magawa sa next game.”
It’s also a good thing that he has someone like James Yap around who reminds him to stay locked in despite the character-testing moments.
“Everytime na nagmimintis ako, sinasabi niya lang, ‘Sige, ano ka lang, ‘wag kang mawalan ng kumpiyansa, move on sa mintis mo na ‘yon, keep moving forward lang.’ ‘Yun lang ‘yung sinasabi niya,” he said.
