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SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – It was a shot that Chris Newsome claimed to have taken so many times in practice that he was confident enough that he would not miss.
All Newsome was trying to win was the game clock.
“It is a shot that I have practiced hundreds of times,” said the Fil-Am shooting guard. “Once I was able to get to the venue and get up, the only thing I was concentrating on was the rim. Luckily, I managed to get in just in time.”
Newsome’s far jump to CJ Pérez capped Meralco’s thrilling 95-93 win over a Terrafirma team on Sunday at the Los Angeles University Foundation gym, fueling the Bolts’ bid for a top 4 heading into the playoffs. .
It was the second time in the bubble that Newsome went through in the Bolts’ clutch, repeating the heroic deeds he did in the team’s 109-104 overtime victory over Magnolia.
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With the score tied at 93 and seven seconds left in the game, the Bolts called for time to chart a winning play.
Despite losing a 20-point lead early on, Meralco had been putting up a splendid team effort in which the coaching staff had an argument over who will take the final shot, according to Newsome.
“We had six people in double digits tonight, so it was difficult (for the coaching staff) to determine who was going to shoot,” he said.
But coach Norman Black decided to go to his best player.
“Just give (Newsome) the ball and get out of the way,” Black said.
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Newsome did his thing on the court, exhausting the tough jump at the buzzer as Meralco rebounded from a 79-92 loss to TnT Tropang Giga and improved to a 6-4 count.
But the 30-year-old former Rookie of the Year credited the entire team for the win and Black for trusting him to make the last shot.
“Coach Norman has trusted me throughout the conference and put together a great play. All we wanted was to take a good look at the basket to give ourselves a chance, ”he said. “The coach put us in the right places and I was able to shoot.”
