The shot heard ‘round the Philippines - how Jimmy Alapag turned away South Korea

It’s been a month since that fateful night, but the memories just won’t escape my mind: How the Philippines finally exorcised the demons of decades of heartbreak, how the capacity crowd belted out in unison Bamboo’s ‘Noy-Pi,’ and how everybody I know simultaneously shed a tear as the curse of South Korea was finally lifted, catapulting Philippine basketball back onto the world stage. In fact, how our guys actually did it, can only be described as incredible.
     
Every single basketball-loving Filipino knows exactly where they were, what they were doing and who they were with when Jimmy Alapag, aka “The Mighty Mouse” saved the day on the most unbelievable of nights in the history of Philippine basketball.

Prior to that though, who could ever forget the sound of the 20,000 in attendance at the MOA Arena chanting “DE-FENSE” right from the get-go after Korea won the tip? Immediately Marcus Douthit obliged, as he sent Kim Joo-Soong’s shot right back, just 20 seconds into the game. And how about the roar on our first offensive, when Jeff Chan swished through a long one to open up the scoring in that knockout semifinal match? Those still send chills down my spine.

However, the Koreans, after three early turnovers, started to settle down. With the game tied at seven at the 5:26 mark of the opening frame, Japeth Aguilar was dispatched by Coach Chot Reyes to replace Marc Pingris who was favoring his left leg as he went to the bench.

With both nations looking to leave a lasting impression, the first quarter ended with the Koreans up, 19-15.

Jayson Castro went back-to-back to tie the game in less than a minute, as the battle of attrition continued into the second. Korea had built a lead of up to seven points and was ahead 28-23 when the thing we all feared most happened. With still over five and a half minutes remaining in that first half, our 6’10" naturalized center pulled something on his right leg.

Douthit hobbled his way back on defense and then to the bench, and later into the dugout. You could feel the collective gasp from the thousands in the Arena as well as the vibes of the millions watching around the country. Pingris was sent back in, but the visual of Douthit with a red towel covering his face on the bench while the trainers worked on his leg was just nightmarish.

But the Filipinos were unfazed, pouring their hearts out, battling for every single possession, not wasting any opportunity, to stay within three at the half.

With some distress in the air as Gilas walked back onto floor without Douthit, Castro and Pingris powered Gilas to an 11-0 opening salvo in the third, to build a 47-39 lead and all of a sudden, the building was rocking once again.

LA Tenorio came up with a three and an improbable reverse, Ranidel De Ocampo made a timely scoop, Alapag strung together five straight points before Japeth Aguilar put the exclamation point. Gilas then weathered the Korean uprising led by Kim Mingoo, to take a nine-point lead in the final 10 minutes of play.

South Korea though refused to go silently into the night. Kim Mingoo and Lee Seung-Jun just kept on coming, helping their nation inch ever so close, and then it happened.

6’10 Lee Seung-Jun leaked out off a Gilas miss. 6’1 Jeff Chan gave chase but it was all too late. A two-handed jam gave the Koreans a one-point lead with just over four minutes remaining.

Did that just happen? Are we going through this again? Are the basketball gods getting a kick out of this? Are you kidding me? Here we go again. I sank in my seat, so many horrible memories going through my head.

Say. It. Ain’t. So.

With just over three minutes remaining and Korea up by two, Alapag dribbled to the left side and unleashed a three, Jimmy punched it through, Gilas 76-75.

On the very next play though, Kim Tae-Sool sucked the life out of the building as he shoved Korea back up by one with his first basket of the game.

De Ocampo got it right back on a strong drive before Pingris took the ball away from Korea with the two-minute warning blaring inside the Arena. Then Ranidel caught a baseline inbound from Jimmy and lined it up from deep. Yes sir! Pilipinas was up by four with a minute and a half to go.

Then, Yang Donggeun was fouled. The hero in Korea’s 2011 come-from-behind victory over Gilas I calmly sank two free throws to bring them to within two, 81-79.   

Dangerous times once again. This was some edge-of-your-seat, not for the faint of heart ballgame. It was all too familiar; it seemed we had all seen this before. It just had disaster written all over it.

With a glance up, we all prayed that our boys deliver the killer blow. We needed to put them away right here, right now.

The captain of Gilas brings it up against the pressure. Less than a minute to go. The game still in the balance. Six seconds remaining on the shot clock. Alapag dribbles to the left wing. Jimmy launches it…BAAAAAANG!!!

And the rest was history. - AMD, GMA News