IT was easy for Builders Warehouse-University of Santo Tomas (UST) to kneel and bow out of playoff contention in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) D-League Aspirants’ Cup.
But Kean Baclaan stood firm, refused to give in and kept the Growling Tigers in the chase.
Playing without pressure, the rookie out of La Salle-Zobel decided to go all in and went hard in the Espana crew’s last two games.
He had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block in Builders Warehouse-UST’s must-win game against Wangs Basketball @26-Letran, 89-81, to book the last playoff ticket on Tuesday.
Baclaan saved his best for the quarterfinals though, unloading 35 points built on three three-pointers, on top of five assists and three rebounds as the six-seed Growling Tigers stayed alive with a 98-93 escape over No. 3 Adalem Construction-St. Clare on Friday.
It was enough for the 19-year-old to cop the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps D-League Player of the Week award for the period August 1 to 5 as the group, made up of sportswriters and editors covering the beat, hands out citations in celebration of the developmental league’s 10th season.
He beat Romel Calahat of Apex Fuel-San Sebastian, Raven Cortez of EcoOil-La Salle, Johnsherick Estrada of Adalem-St. Clare, Juan Gomez de Liano of Marinerong Pilipino and teammate Sherwin Concepcion for the award.
It’s an enormous honor for the 5-foot-8 Baclaan to take, but to him, it’s all credit to how the rest of the team allowed him to continue playing his game.
“As a rookie, I was given the freedom to do what I need to do and help the team win,” he said as Builders Warehouse came back from a 0-4 start and are now a win away from the semifinals.
Rising to the occasion when the Growling Tigers needed him the most, Baclaan vowed to still come at his best as he hopes for a grand finish for his side.
“Now, we don’t want to lose,” he said.