Sports Event Flashback : Before PBA Ginebra NSDA there was MICAA 1974 UTEX NSDA attitude

With the aplomb and Nonchalance of one with a fat enough lead to squander instead of the precarious, razor- thin actuality of one point Ramon Fernandez let go a it- won't-make-any-difference shot , with the Araneta Coliseum clock showing exactly five seconds to game's end.
Here is how those five seconds went:
0:05 The ball hits the outer part of the ring, Jimmy Otazu of the rival U-Tex team recovering.  0:04 Otazu flicks the ball to Rudolf Kutch.
0:03 Kutch loops a desperate two-hand forward pass in the general direction of U-Tex ace forward Danny Florencio.
0:02
Florencio, who scrambled to the vicinity of the end- line when he saw Otazu haul in the rebound, leaps high to complete the pass.
0:01 Knowing his guard (was it Sonny Jaworski or Nathaniel Canson?) couldn't afford a foul, Danny springs forward and up, releasing a soft layup.
0:00 Simultaneous with the blare of the coliseum horn ending the game the ball rolls into the hoop. The
final score:
Toyota 73.
U-Tex 74,
It was a fantastic finish to a frenetic fight that at times showed seemingly insurmount able 19-point spreads: at 49-30 51-32. 53-34 and 55-36, enjoyed by the defending champion Comets.
"A miracle, it was a miracle..." the exuberant coach of the Weavers, Napoleon Flores said in soft, awed voice. The hero or appropriately, one of the heroes of the game. Danny Boy Florencio, couldn't con himself and hugged SW lensman Boy Giron, sweat and all. Rudy Kutch, who together with Jimmy Otazu made the winning play possible, leaned weakly against a locker and kept saying, "Suerte lang, suerte lang which means plain luck.
Or Dame Luck. Or Que Sera, Sera.
Item: In the second Jake Rojas steals off game, Mumar with four ticks left, passes to Rudy Segura who streaks for basket, takes off and lets go his layup. But just before he did the signal ending the game sounded, and U-Tex won by 87-85. (See Game of the Week ED)

Item: Toyota takes an 18- point lead at the half in the third game, 47-29. It should have shattered the U-Tex heart to pieces. It didn't.

Item: After U-Tex mounted a second uprising (after the first at 55-36 which became 55- 42) at 68-54-which saw Fer- nandez lose the ball to Otazu for a Kutch crippler, a Mumar steal off Rocha for a Pineda conversion and an Otazu inter- ception of a Jaworski pass to Rojas before Fernandez broke the spell with a lane crash, 70- 62 Rojas injured his right ankle and was lost to the game forever, time to go still a long four minutes; 47 seconds.

The loss of Rojas was decisive. It deprived Dante Silverio of a court general, and he had to take his chances with the shaky Nathaniel Canson. At 15:30 gone, Mumar tallied on an undergoal for 70-62.
two scoreless
After nearly minutes, Jaworski on a throw in lost control of the slippery ball and Basilan gained possession which culminated in a Florencio jumper for 70-64, time 17:35.
Segura then fouled out on Basilan at 18:10, Basilan converting twice for 70-66.
On the throw-in, Canson attempted to carry the ball over mid-court but harassed by U- double-teaming, he dribbled off his foot for a turnover. It was 18:20 by the coliseum clock when Florencio barged home another twinner from under for 70-68.

A short stab by Fernandez made it 72-68, and when Pineda missed at exactly one minute left to play, Basilan falling across the baseline with the ball on the rebound, it looked like curtains for U-Tex, until Rocha rammed his elbow against Mumar during a scramble after a Toyota miss.
Mumar retaliated by bouncing the ball off Rocha's head and there nearly was fisticuffs between the two. Referee Igmidio Cahanding immediately flung himself between the protagonists, however, to prevent blows from being thrown. The end result of Rocha's contact was a trip to the foulline for Mumar.
Unaccountably, Dante Silverio chose the cold, cold Cristino Reynoso whose last tournament game had been against Manila Bank on September 10! to replace Rocha.

After Mumar converted both gift shots, Cris nearly made a faulty pass, the intercepting Florencio however landing on the baseline. On the next play, Mumar fouled out on Fernandez. The clock showed 28 seconds left to play.

Fernandez's first attempt was woefully off-mark. After Ota- zu had replaced Mumar, Fernandez took his second shot, and made it for 73-70.
Basilan threw in to Florencio, who dribbled all the way to goal and was fouled by Cris Reynoso, time down to 20 seconds. Florencio converted the first attempt, and converted the second one, too: 73-72.
But now all Toyota had to do was hold on to the ball. And it seemed the Comets would until Fernandez cast a glance at the clock and let go.
"I would have held him if I could," Dante Silverio managed to jest afterwards. Continuing, Dante said, "Okay lang. One team had to lose. It is all part of the game..."
So U-Tex, outscored in three games by 16 points (251 to 235), made it to the MICAA finals on a couple of squeakers. In the opening game of the best-of- three series the Weavers were manhandled terribly, losing by speak of coincidences 19 points (Toyota's biggest spread in the third game, at 49-30, 51- 32, 53-34 and 55-36) at 93-74. Coincidentally, too, U-Tex's losing total in the first game was its winning sum in the third.