"Wow!"
That's Norman Black letting out a big sigh at the end of the post-game interview that he attended as the winning coach in the crucial Meralco-Barangay Ginebra tiff Sunday at the Philippine Arena.
Black himself was amazed at the giant effort put in by his badly undermanned Meralco team to pull the rug from under their heavy favorite rival and in the process keep their slim playoff hopes in the PBA Philippine Cup.
On sheer heart, the Bolts jolted the Kings, 84-82, to catch up with the Blackwater Elite and the TNT KaTropa Texters at ninth place at 4-6.
"It's corny, it's a clich?, but this is our championship. We said we just give our best shot and see what happens. The guys brought in that mentality," said Black.
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"And what an effort from our guys especially in this circumstance where we lose and we're out. Ginebra is a tough team, a big team. Our guys hung in there and got away with the win," Black added.
Garvo Lanete, Jason Ballesteros, Anjo Caram and Chris Newsome delivered in the absence of Cliff Hodge, Jared Dillinger and Ranidel de Ocampo as the Bolts stayed alive and foiled the Kings' first crack at an outright quarterfinals entry.
The Bolts play another do-or-die setto versus the Magnolia Hotshots in Cagayan de Oro on Saturday. The Kings, meanwhile, take another shot at the quarters versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at the close of the elims on March 2.
Ballesteros played the biggest game in his pro career, making only seven points but grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds - the last leading to a putback that shoved the Bolts ahead at 83-82 with 58.7 seconds left.
Then he came up with another scrappy play, winning a mad scramble for the loose ball then canning a free throw to make it 84-82 with 17.3 ticks to go.
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The Kings eventually yielded the game as Japeth Aguilar missed a three-point attempt in the dying seconds.
Lanete, Caram, Newsome and Reynel Hugnatan also stepped up, each one coming through with a double-digit output.
"Ballesteros stepped up and got the rebounds that we needed, Garvo made big shots while Anjo and Chris also got us going. And the other guys pitched in," said Black.
Undermanned, under-sized and underdog, Meralco pulled off surprises right in the first half which it dominated.
The Bolts took the half at 45-38.
The scores:
MERALCO 84 - Lanete 19, Caram 16, Newsome 12, Hugnatan 12, Ballesteros 7, Salva 5, Amer 4, Bono 4, Canaleta 3, Faundo 2, Tolomia 0, Sedurifa 0.
GINEBRA 82 - Aguilar 20, Thompson 17, Slaughter 12, Mercado10, CAguioa 6, Tenorio 5, Cruz 5, Devance 4, Mariano 3, Ferrer 0, Manuel 0.
Quarters: 15-20, 45-38, 67-64, 84-82.
