As Calvin Abueva and Rome dela Rosa rejoice, Kevin Ferrer puts his head down.
NorthPort’s prospects of upsetting Magnolia in the PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena were wrecked by two crucial missed free throws by Kevin Ferrer.
On missed free shots against Magnolia, Kevin Ferrer
Ferrer was called to the line with 27 seconds left in the game, which was knotted at 77 to 77 at the time.
Unfortunately, in a startling change of events, the NorthPort shooter went cold and missed both of his free throws in a costly possession that ended with a Rome Dela Rosa a three-pointer for an 80 to 77 Magnolia lead.
“Part of the game. Ite-take ko yung blame, sa akin talaga yun kasi nga crucial free throws yun. Sa akin yun [It’s part of the game. I take the blame, it’s really on me for it’s a crucial free throw, so it’s on me]” Ferrer said, who was the last player to leave the NorthPort dugout after the game, expressing his gratitude.
After winning back-to-back games to start the season, the University of Santo Tomas winger finished with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting in the Batang Pier’s first loss of the season.
Ferrer also had three assists and five rebounds. Ferrer said the failed free throws were a learning experience for him, even though he’s ready to move on from the incident.
“Hindi naman made-define yung character ko sa ganun, e. I’ll take the challenge. Mag extra workout pa siguro ako sa training and mas more focus ako sa mga crucial point na yun, [my character cannot easily be defined by that, I’ll take the challenge. I will probably have Extra workout in my training and I will focus on those crucial points]” he mentioned
Ferrer, therefore, is appreciative to the entire Batang Pier for sticking behind him even after the club was denied a 3-0 start to the season. Arwind Santos, a veteran and former MVP, was one of them.
“Sabi ko, okay lang ‘yun, walang maninisi sa ‘yo. Sabi ko, ang mali mo, mali nating lahat, [I said, it’s okay, there will be no one will blame you. I said, when you are wrong it’s all our fault]” In his communication to Ferrer, Santos added. “Dumarating sa point talaga na lahat tayo, pwedeng nalalagay sa ganyang sitwasyon. Hindi mo kailangan sisihin o i-down ang sarili mo. [there will be point that all of us will get in that situation. You don’t need to blame or down yourself”
“Sabi namin andito lang kami, huwag mong isipin na parang dinaganan ka ng mundo, [we said we will just be here, don’t think that you have the world on your back]” Santos Added. “Kahit dumating ang time na kailangan naming mamili ng magpi-free throw, ikaw pa rin ang dadalhin namin diyan. Naniniwala kami sa iyo. [even when we need to pick someone who will do free throw, it is you we will choose, it is you we will bring. Because we believe in you]”.