Santi Santillan felt relieved to have found redemption after a crucial turnover late in Rain or Shine’s PBA Governors’ Cup match versus Terrafirma on Thursday.
The sophomore big man intended to pass the rock to Beau Belga but his senior was already looking on the other side of the court, and the ball bounced off the latter instead — and then went to the Dyip’s possession.
Andreas Cahilig secured the loose ball, and they went on to tie the game at 116-all with 52.2 seconds to play behind Jordan Williams’ bucket.
“Nagulat din ako e, kasi nga ‘yung pagpasa ko kay Kuya Beau, hindi maganda,” recalled the De La Salle University product.
But Santillan would more than make up for that moments later. In what appeared to be a disrupted set, he was located by Rey Nambatac near the rim and went on to nail the go-ahead layup with 0.7 seconds left.
(C) PBA Images
RoS won, 120-118.
And the youngster is just thankful to have come through with the most important bucket of the match, which eventually led to their second win in a row — that, after starting the conference with four straight losses.
“Nagpapasalamat ako na libre ako sa ilalim, and nakita ako ni Rey. Nakabawi talaga. Kundi pa ako nakabawi, patay na ‘ko kay Coach Yeng,” he said with a laugh moments after the game at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Santillan finished with 21 points and six rebounds, and none other than head coach Yeng Guiao was proud of his steely resolve.
“He played well. That one mistake does not define his whole game effort. He made up for it. Nakabawi siya,” lauded the champion mentor.
“Sa kanya naman ang winning basket. All around he was good, he was O.K.”
Santillan, though, was much prouder of how Rain or Shine responded despite missing the services of Greg Smith II due to clearance issues.
“Thank God na naipakita namin kanina,” he said.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
