For Romeo Travis, the bad shooting night of both the Magnolia Hotshots and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters could be attributed to the venue.
The 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup meeting between the two took place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, a venue that the 34-year-old cager finds different from the ones he had played in.
“It’s different playing in MOA,” he said.
“The arena is different from Araneta, it’s different from everywhere else. So the depth perception is different, the crowd is different, the seating is different.”
The struggle was strongly evident in the opening frame alone. Rain or Shine failed to convert a single field goal — a first in PBA history — which resulted in a 6-11 disadvantage at the end of the period.
“It’s gonna take a little while to catch your rhythm here,” Travis said. “I don’t play here a lot — this is only my third, fourth time playing here in total.
“For me personally, it was difficult to make shots.”
Both squads then got their flow going in the succeeding quarters. Still, defense decided the game, and Travis himself best exemplified this following a huge stop down the stretch.
The Elasto Painters had tied the game up at 68-all after being down 10. Then, with Kayel Locke looking to complete the comeback, Travis forced a turnover by stripping the ball away from him.
Travis then gave it to Mark Barroca, but Ping Exciminiano fouled him to stop the clock. The veteran point guard then split his freebies to give the Hotshots a 69-68 lead with 58.2 seconds left.
The Hotshots then reverted to defense, and they forced Gabe Norwood to pull up for a jumper, which missed as time expired, giving them the one-point victory that hiked their card to 2-1.
“Just tried to play my role, and bait him into a crossover, and then I just went for it. He got me a couple of times earlier with the same moves,” recalled Travis of that sequence.
“I reached and I got the piece of the ball. I dove for it and gave it to Mark, they fouled him, and he made one of two.”
Travis was the man of the match with 26 points on 28 attempts with 14 rebounds, two steals, and two rebounds, and most especially that stop of his. But he said it was just all a great team effort.
“We played good defense all day today, and we got a stop, and we just defense when it counted. It’s definitely a character game and a big character win for us.”
