Abueva hits game-winning shot as Phoenix conquers Meralco in OT match

“Big overtime win to start the season! The Beast finished with 9pts and 13rebs, including the game winner! #FightToThePhoenix” (Photo: Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters/Facebook)

‘The Beast’ Calvin Abueva finds himself starting the year away from controversies and leading to success instead as he hits the game-winning shot at the last 4.1 seconds of his team the Phoenix Fuel Masters’ first game of the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup against the Meralco Bolts last Wednesday, January 16 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. The score ended at 93-92 in favor of Phoenix.

Abueva did not have a good run in the beginning, but attempted to redeem himself in overtime, as he used an offensive rebound from teammate Justin Chua’s missed shot to hit his own basket as an answer back from Bolts’ Chris Newsome’s three. The forward was looking for his groove the entire game as he only scored nine points throughout.

Phoenix head coach Louie Alas saidthat this shows how “patience is a virtue,” stating in a mix of English and Filipino, “The whole game – I’m not saying that Calvin had a terrible game. That’s an understatement, but pretty much less than 50 percent of his free throws and field goals were low.”

He added, “But, the coaches said we need him until the end. And it happened.”

The Kapampangan Abueva also believes he “didn’t know what happened,” in his words, “Bad game and bad start for me, but the lost shot, I guess I got lucky.” He elaborated in Filipino, “I just thought that I still needed to do what I have to do. Whatever I can help the team with, that’s what I’ll do, which is rebounding and defense. I’m unlucky in field goals, but when it was overtime, I was strengthened. What I did, like offensive rebounds, really helped with that.”

Abueva’s teammate Chua led his team throughout the game with a career-high of 24 points, while Matthew Wright and Jason Perkins scored 18 and 13 points respectively. Alex Mallari contributed double digits as well, with 11 points for his first game as a Fuel Master. For Meralco, Nico Salva also had a career-high at 22 points, while Newsome provided 20, but it was not enough for his team to get a stable lead throughout the game.