By JONAS TERRADO
For the Blackwater Bossing, their stunning 101-100 win over the Magnolia Pambansang Manok Hotshots not only felt like a championship.
It gave them a huge sigh of relief after the agony of dealing with defeat after defeat for the last 18 months.
Coach Ariel Vanguardia was relieved that he described the sweet taste of victory as “getting the monkey’s off our back.”
“Sana it came earlier in the season,” Vanguardia said as he entered the press room podium for the first time since he was tapped before the start of the PBA Governors’ Cup to try and end the dryspell.
October 2020 was the last time Blackwater won which came at the expense of NLEX during the Philippine Cup bubble in Pampanga, improving its record to 2-1 and heaping praises for the ability to put up big third quarter runs.
But it turned out to be the last win for the team then handled by Nash Racela, dropping the next eight games to emerge one of the first teams to leave the bubble.
The misery continued this season, starting in the Philippine Cup when Blackwater lost all 11 games during the eliminations held at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City and Bacolor, Pampanga, resulting in a new record for consecutive losses.
Blackwater parted ways with Racela and tapped Vanguardia, its alternate governor, and multiple trades before the Governors’ Cup that resulted in the arrival of former Alaska players Jvee Casio and Barkley Ebona, among others.
The loss, though, continued to mount as the Bossing dropped their first five games, prompting the team to bring in Shawn Glover as a replacement for original import Jaylen Bond.
Blackwater was primed to finally halt its skid at 24 in Glover’s debut, but a double-digit lead disappeared in haste and fell to Terrafirma in what was considered as the team’s best chance of getting a win.
The drought extended until the final game of the season, though there were silver linings along the way with Casio regaining his old form and Glover providing stellar numbers that could match those produced by Magnolia’s Mike Harris, NLEX’s KJ McDaniels and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Justin Brownlee, to name a few.
“There were too many changes, too many injuries, but there were games that we could have won really, that could have turned the season for us,” said Vanguardia.
“The first game, we were up 12 and the first game of this new year, we were up 14. So yung mga ganung pagkakataon, we weren’t able to handle.”
Little was expected from Blackwater to halt its skid, with many ready to write the team into the record books as the first PBA team to lose all its games in a single season, with Magnolia, the top team of the elims, expected to bring its A-game despite having nothing at stake but pride before the quarters.
Instead, Blackwater displayed plenty of resolve with Glover, Casio, Barkley Ebona, Paul Desiderio, Andre Paras and Rey Suerte all stepping up.
And in the second half, the Bossing suddenly found themselves up by11 on two occasions, leaving the Hotshots, who despite missing Calvin Abueva and Jio Jalalon remain a talented squad, in shock.
Mark Barroca, though, almost singlehandedly wheeled Magnolia back with multiple baskets in the payoff period, even when Harris was lost with 2:50 left for a Flagrant Foul 1 which meant a three-minute sit-out period.
Magnolia went up one but Barroca’s turnover during a full court press resulted in an Ebona layup, then Suerte came away with a block on Jackson Corpuz before time expired as frantic celebrations spilled all the way to the Blackwater dugout.
Team owner Dioceldo Sy was also on hand to witness the big victory while the players doused Vanguardia with water as he entered the dressing room following the customary postgame interview.
As Blackwater savored the rare feeling of being triumphant, thoughts of next season were also pondered. The Bossing hold the first pick in next season’s draft plus two more in the first round and the first selection in the second round.
“We won’t trade those picks, we’ll keep them,” Vanguardia assured. “We’ll try to really build this team and I’m just thankful for the management for still supporting us despite the losses, despite the setbacks we have.”
