ANTIPOLO CITY, Philippines – Columbian may not have gotten the win, but it still gained valuable lessons from its sorry loss to TNT. 

CJ Perez said the Dyip will be better moving forward after coming up short in their bid to hand the KaTropa their first loss in the PBA Governors’ Cup as they absorbed a 120-125 defeat on Saturday, October 5. 

“This is a good experience for us,” said Perez in Filipino. “Maybe we can notch a win in our next game. We’re already there, we just fell short.” 

Red-hot in the final quarter, Perez put Columbian within striking distance by draining a three-pointer, 120-123, and had a chance to knot the score after stealing the ball from Don Trollano with less than 30 seconds remaining.

However, Rashawn McCarthy muffed a contested layup by Jayson Castro, while Perez immediately fired and missed an off-balanced jumper despite having plenty of time remaining on the shot clock. 

Troy Rosario collared the defensive rebound, paving the way for Roger Pogoy to seal the win for TNT behind a pair of free throws. 

“It would have been better if Rashawn made the shot, but we’re not perfect,” Perez said. 

“We got the offensive rebound so we should have called a timeout or I should have cleared the ball. Breaks of the game. Learning experience.”

In his defense, Perez – who finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals – felt there was contact during his crucial miss. 

“I saw that someone bumped me so I shot it. But no excuses. We’re already there. At least we gave them a fight. We just fell short. I wish that next game, we can win again,” Perez added.

Now at 2-2, Columbian will try to get back on the winning track against Blackwater at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, October 11. – Rappler.com