Players from Meralco and San Miguel were left amused with the epic ending of the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

June Mar Fajardo and Chris Newsome saw themselves trading big shots, and all of the players had to deal with a roller coaster of emotions inside the final 5.3 seconds of the contest.

Off what seemed to be a broken play, Fajardo, of all the shooters that the Beermen have, received a late inbound pass and went for a tough step-back triple to tie the count, 78-all, leaving the SMB faithful roaring in celebration.

If that was not already thrilling enough, Newsome then answered back with a fadeaway jumper on the baseline and over the challenge of Don Trollano to put the Bolts back ahead with 1.3 seconds left.

Meralco then held its breath in SMB’s final possession as the ball found its way to Fajardo once again, only this time he went a little long on the potential Game 7-sending triple.

Meralco forward Cliff Hodge perfectly described the nerve-wracking final moments, noting how it happened as if it came straight out of a scene in a movie.

“That was the loudest I ever heard Araneta since I've been here. He (Newsome) hit that shot and the crowd went crazy. We just knew we had one more shot. He made that like it’s a movie, a freaking movie,” said Hodge.

“When I got into the free throw line June Mar was already congratulating me and I'm like yeah we got it. And then he came down hit the biggest shot ever I was like oh man, but I just want to thank Newsome and he hit the huge shot,” he recalled

Bolts wingman Allein Maliksi also shared the same feeling, admitting that at one point he felt down after Fajardo hit the big trey.

“Nalaglag yung kaluluwa ko. Nawala talaga, bagsak balikat. Di ko mainitindihan yung nararamdaman ko parang feeling ko talo na kami,” he said.

"Pero I tried to calm my teammates sabi ko positive lang kasi kung overtime kaya pa natin manalo. Nung nashoot ni New, parang nag iba sobrang sarap talaga sa pakiramdam,” he added.

Fajardo, himself was in disbelief that he made that huge triple down the stretch and couldn’t help but flash a big smile while recalling that play on his head.

“Ganda sana. Pero wala, talo eh,” said Fajardo before pausing and smiling in amusement. “Memorable 'yun para sa akin,” he added.

Newsome, likewise, as nonchalant that he is after nailing the go-ahead jumper, admitted he was also shocked after Fajardo’s trey.

“It was unbelievable, kinda replaying it in my head. It was like in slow motion for him to dribble it out and take the ball to his set point and release it,” recalled Newsome.

“It felt like the ball was in the air for a good 10 seconds and then swak pa. It was a great shot by Abai, it kept them alive but at that point anything can happen there’s still time on the clock. One thing that is on my mind is that we still have a chance with 2 seconds. we can definitely get a great look,” he added.