Denzel Bowles cried like a child even before the end of regulation last night before finishing the job in overtime to lead B-Meg to a 90-84 Game 7 conquest of Talk ’N Text for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup before a sea of fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
The 6-foot-10 import hit two free throws with 1.2 seconds left in the fourth period to send the game to extension at 76-all, already crying before he even made it back to the B-Meg bench.
When play resumed for the extra five minutes, the 23-year-old crowned as the Best Import of the Conference last week promptly dropped the anvil on the decimated Talk ’N Text crew with 10 straight points that made the full house crowd erupt in celebration.
“I have never been part of something like this,” Bowles, who finished with 39 points and 21 rebounds, later told reporters. “This is my first time to be on a winning squad, and I didn’t want my team to lose the championship because of me.
“Those two free throws were the biggest in my career,” Bowles explained when asked why he got so emotional after making them. “It (free throw stint) was easily the defining moment for me.”
It was the first overtime game in a Game 7 of a title series since the 1995 All-Filipino Conference when Sunkist turned back Alaska.
Bowles was sent to the stripe by a Kelly Williams foul after taking a pass from James Yap in a game-tying broken play inside the final 12.3 seconds.
And those free throws capped a rally by the Llamados from six points down heading into the final two minutes of regulation as B-Meg pounced on the chance after several key Talk ’N Text players left the court because of fouls or injuries.
“To tell you honestly, I don’t know what happened out there,” B-Meg coach Tim Cone, who won his first PBA title for a team other than Alaska, said. “It was pretty amazing. But I think you have to do amazing stuff to be able to beat a team like Talk ‘N Text.
“I don’t believe I’m sitting here (for the championship interview). I know I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take it.”
Yap was later crowned the Finals MVP by the PBA Press Corps after averaging close to 20 points and six rebounds in the series. He finished with 12 points last night, five of them coming in the fourth period.
Jimmy Alapag fired 29 points, his best for the conference, and almost singlehandedly carried the Texters to several leads in the second half.
After shooting 11 points in the first two periods, Alapag, the 5-foot-8 reigning MVP, hit 14 in the third quarter as the Texters took a 61-56 lead into the fourth which it would later bloat to eight.
But disaster struck the Texters three times in the stretch.
Ryan Reyes, a vital man in shutting down Yap, had to be helped off the floor after taking a nasty landing with 5:11 left while going for a drive. Two minutes later, import Donnell Harvey would join him in the bench after incurring his sixth foul with Talk ’N Text leading, 72-68.
What made matters worse was Alapag being carried off the floor, literally, by teammates with 13.4 seconds left after cramping up as the Texters went to play that stretch without their spiritual leader.
“Jimmy (Alapag) just played his mind out, like he always does,” Cone said.
Talk ’N Text was in the lead for the last time at 81-80 after Jared Dillinger hit a layup with 3:18 to go, before Bowles hit three unanswered baskets highlighted by a power move against Williams with 56.8 left for 86-81.
It was all over but the shouting from there as Alapag was made to return only to throw the ball away in the next Talk ‘N Text possession, clearly not the player he was just minutes before on the floor.
