Emilio Aguinaldo College was not having a good day at the charity stripe on Sunday against Lyceum of the Philippines University in NCAA Season 100, making just seven of their first 21 free throw attempts.
But when the game was to be decided by free throws, team captain King Gurtiza made sure he would deliver.
The graduating skipper drew a foul against LPU's Greg Cunanan at the three-point area, sinking two of the three charities that broke an 88-all deadlock and iced the game with 6.7 seconds left. Surprisingly, that was just Gurtiza's first trip to the line in the game---and it turned out to be the biggest one.
"Nu’ng una narinig ko talaga si coach na may fouls to give pa sila bago ko makuha ‘yung bola and then si Greg narinig ko na magfa-foul daw siya so ‘pag atake ko nakita ko na papalapit siya, doon ko na tinira," Gurtiza shared.
"Sabi ko pina-practice ko to eh kaya kumpiyansa ako na masho-shoot ko ‘yung mga free throws na ‘yun."
[I heard coach say they had fouls to give, and I heard Greg say they were going to foul, so when I saw him coming, I took the shot... I said, I practice this so I'm confident that I can make the free throws.]
And while the rest of the team shot poorly from the line, EAC head coach Jerson Cabiltes did not once doubt his top scorer with the fate of their game in his hands.
"Feel naman namin na makaka-shoot si King kahit isa kasi we’re shooting very bad from the free throws. We’re 9 out of 24 in this game, which is 37 percent and we are averaging 58 percent, which is bad and much worse pa sa larong ‘to," Cabiltes said.
"But I’m confident enough kasi alam ko na makaka-shoot si King."
[We felt like King was going to make them, at least one. We were shooting very bad from the free throws. We’re 9 out of 24 in this game, which is 37 percent and we are averaging 58 percent, which is bad and much worse in this game... But I'm confident enough because I knew King would make it.]
Gurtiza's confidence wasn't made overnight, revealing he starts everything at practice which he hopes is infectious enough to rub off on his teammates as they look to salvage their run despite a shaky start.
"‘Pag nakikita ko ‘yung mga teammates ko na nagpe-petiks lalo na sa mga game prep namin, kasi ‘pag game preps namin sinasabi ni coach na medyo walkthrough lang kasi baka may ma-injure pa, pero pinapakita ko pa rin na go hard ako," Gurtiza added.
"Kaya sinasabi ko sa kanila palagi na ‘pag game prep, kailangan go hard tayo kasi hindi ganito ‘yung ibibigay ng kalaban natin eh. Kailangan naming tapatan ‘yung energy."
[When I see my teammates taking it easy during game prep, because during game prep, coach tells us to just walkthrough because someone might get injured, but I show that I still go hard... I tell them in game prep, we still have to go hard because this isn't what our opponents will show us. We need to match their energy.]
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
