The Christian Standhardinger-less Terrafirma nearly pulled off the upset, but new Magnolia import Shabazz Muhammad saved the day for the Hotshots in the PBA Governors' Cup.
After Paolo Hernandez hit the stepback three-pointer that gave Terrafirma a 98-97 buffer with 15.6 left to play, there was hope the Dyip would finally score a breakthrough win in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup.
But new Magnolia import Shabazz Muhammad had other things in mind.
Muhammad saved the day for the Hotshots, nailing the runner with 8.1 seconds remaining to hack out the 99-98 win at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Thursday, September 12.
But while the Dyip absorbed a seven straight loss in as many games, Terrafirma reinforcement Antonio Hester could not help but be proud of his team.
“We fought, we had a hell of a game tonight as a team. It’s right there, one little tweak and we could have possibly come out with the win,” said Hester, who finished with 39 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists in a losing cause.
“But it’s a great game. I’m proud of my guys.”
Terrafirma did fight tooth-and-nail against the Hotshots even in the absence of Christian Standhardinger and Juami Tiongson. Kevin Ferrer and Stanley Pringle contributed 17 points on four triples for the Dyip, who even led 95-91 after the latter scored on a putback with 2:27 left in the game.
His teammates' efforts only raised his respect for them even higher.
“I’m super proud of these guys. I gained so much more respect — I already have respect for these guys but just tonight showed what we could have been,” he said.
Though they are highly likely to miss the playoffs at the rate things are going, the Dyip are not throwing in the white towel just yet.
“I know it’s sad to say something like that. But at this point int he season, now with three games left, we just wanna try to not go 0-10,” he said.