Renzo Abiera shared he was surprised with what happened when his team, Arellano University, faced off with Lyceum of the Philippines University in NCAA Season 100.
With eight seconds remaining and his camp enjoying a four-point lead against the Pirates, 90-86, Abiera and LPU wingman JM Bravo were involved in a collision that resulted in the latter falling unconscious to the floor. Bravo was stretchered off the court and brought to the hospital for further tests.
Abiera, who was seen in tears while singing their school hymn after the huge win, shared he had no intention of hurting Bravo, stressing he didn't even notice at first that the LPU veteran was already lying on the floor.
"Crucial ‘yung stop namin doon kasi lamang kami ng apat [tapos] nakuha ko ‘yung bola, actually akala ko tapos na ‘yung game nu’n eh," Abiera told reporters on Tuesday on the heels of their 66-59 victory over Perpetual.
"Kala ko 0 seconds na lang ‘yun eh kaya tumakbo ako at nag-celebrate ako. Tapos bigla kong nakita na may na na-knock out na pala kaya na-shock ako sa nangyari."
[It was a crucial stop because we were leading by four and I got the ball. Actually, I thought the game was over then. I thought there were 0 seconds left so I ran and celebrated. And suddenly I saw that someone was knocked out so I was shocked by what happened.]
While it was unintentional, the rookie guard said he tried to go to LPU's dugout after the match to extend his apologies to Bravo, but the latter was already at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center at the time.
"After ng game tinry kong pumunta sa dugout nila if ando’n pa si JM, magso-sorry sana ako pero nadala na pala sa ospital," Abiera added.
"Nag-chat na lang ako sa kanya sa Messenger, sana makita niya ‘yun."
[After the game, I tried to go to their dugout to see if JM was there. I wanted to say sorry, but he was already taken to the hospital. I just sent a chat message to him on Messenger, I hope he sees it.]
Abiera is now trying to move on from the unfortunate incident as he helped the Chiefs stun the higher-ranked Perpetual to bolster their Final Four hopes. He tallied 10 points, including the back-to-back triples bridging the third and fourth quarters to spark their comeback win.
"Sabi nila (coaching staff) it’s part of the game, hindi ko naman ‘yun sinadya, hindi ko naman ‘yun ginusto."
[They said it's part of the game. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want that.]
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
