With 24 seconds left in the game, the Barangay Ginebra Kings had the perfect opportunity to tie the score at 74 and put the pressure on the San Miguel Beermen in their PBA Philippine Cup showdown Sunday night.

After falling behind by as much as 15 points in the fourth quarter, the Kings battled back and actually had a shot at scoring a comeback win in the end.

Ginebra head coach Jeffrey Cariaso drew up a play where Jayjay Helterbrand and Japeth Aguilar worked on a pick-and-roll play. Cariaso added a twist to the play as Helterbrand handed the ball to Greg Slaughter on the pinch post position.

As Helterbrand and Slaughter were doing the most damage in the fourth quarter for Ginebra, the Beermen’s defense focused on them, allowing Aguilar to leap for an alley-oop slam off a Slaughter pass.

However, Aguilar mishandled the ball. According to the high-leaping forward, it was because of Arwind Santos’ hand on the back of his leg.

“Nung pagkuha ko sa lob feeling ko na-undercut ako. Dun nawala yung balance ko tapos tumama yung elbow ko sa rim kaya dun ko nawala yung bola,” Aguilar said. “Sayang. Pang-tabla pa naman. Na out-of-balance ako e.”

After the miss, the Kings fought on the back-foot for the rest of the match as the Beermen calmly sank their free throws.

According to Aguilar, more than the missed dunk, what caused the Kings’ loss was their lackluster performance in the first half.

“Lumaban kami sa huli pero kami yung tumalo sa sarili namin e. Nung first half kulang kami sa aggressiveness,” Aguilar said. “Masyado kaming nag-kumpiyansa. Lahat nung five wins namin dahil sa defense e. Kanina di namin nagawa.”

“Kailangan naming gawing motivation ito para next game. For me, last na talo na namin dapat ito.”