TNT Tropang 5G head coach Chot Reyes entered the Moro Lorenzo Gym for his usual training session with the Tropang 5G feeling heavy without the usual smile that would greet him stepping into the facility inside the Ateneo de Manila University campus.
Reyes, just like the rest of the basketball-loving Filipinos, mourns the tragic loss of Nigerian student-athlete Divine Adili and young recruit Rene Baterbonia in a drowning incident early this week in a fateful team-building activity in Aurora.
The mentor shared how the gentle giant Adili would be the first to greet him in the gym where both TNT and the Blue Eagles do their practice and training sessions.
“We see those guys, well not too much Rene, but Divine, the past two years, we see them almost every day because we practice in the same facility. We lift weights in the same gym,” Reyes said following the Tropang 5G’s 106-98 Game 4 victory to tie the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals series to 2-2 on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I don’t know if you saw my story yesterday, my Instagram story, it was really surreal stepping into the Moro Lorenzo court and the gym without Divine’s ‘Good morning coach!’ greeting right there,” he added.
The 21-year-old Adili, who played for the Blue Eagles in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 88, and the 19-year-old recruit Baterbonia, along with another teammate, ventured into deeper waters while swimming and were swept away by strong currents in a resort in Dipaculao, Aurora.
Adili and Baterbonia were rushed to Aurora Memorial Hospital but were declared dead on arrival.
“First of all, I just want to take the time to give my love to the families of Rene and Divine. That played heavily in our minds, so I just want to take the time and give love to their families,” Game 4 hero Jordan Heading said.
