Who’s getting old?

There are two opposing senior statesmen in the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series between Magnolia and Meralco. They’re both over 40 and the only other player in that age bracket in the league is San Miguel Beer’s Arwind Santos. Magnolia’s Rafi Reavis is 44 and Meralco’s Reynel Hugnatan is 42 but from the way they’re playing, it looks like retiring from the game is farthest from their mind.

Reavis was picked second overall behind Yancy de Ocampo in the 2002 draft. In that same draft, Chito Victolero was chosen by Sta. Lucia Realty on the second round and Danilo Capobres by TNT on the fourth. Believe it or not, Victolero is now Reavis’ coach at Magnolia and Capobres’ son Alvin is a teammate with the Hotshots. Reavis is the only active player of the 40 draftees, including NorthPort assistant coach Rensy Bajar and Blackwater assistant coach Aries Dimaunahan, that year. That’s a testament to his amazing longevity.

Reavis has played on 11 championship teams in 18 seasons. This conference, he has started in eight games, including five of six in the playoffs. In Game 1 of the semis, Reavis collected nine points and 10 rebounds in 30:07 minutes as the Hotshots beat Meralco, 88- 79. He’s a perfect frontline partner for Ian Sangalang who’s a matchup nightmare for any team at the four spot. With Calvin Abueva coming off the bench more often than not, Victolero has the luxury of rotating three bigs depending on who’s on the other side. Sangalang can move from four to five and Abueva from three to four if Reavis is on the bench. Reavis is averaging 2.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 19.9 minutes. He fits a role in Victolero’s system and at his age, the lanky 6-8 center who played D-1 ball at Coppin State with Dorian Peña is still more than serviceable.

Like Reavis for Magnolia, Hugnatan is doing his share for Meralco, his home since 2011-12. In four semifinal games, he’s averaging 11.25 points, 5.75 rebounds and 27.17 minutes, shooting 6-of-19 threes. Overall this conference, Hugnatan is hitting at a 10.9 clip and is Meralco’s second leading scorer behind Chris Newsome. He scored in twin digits in five of six playoff games, including three starts. Hugnatan has developed an outside shot through the years and it’s made him a threat from the perimeter as a stretch four.

Hugnatan was the ninth overall pick by Coca-Cola in the 2003 draft and is the last man standing among 40 who were chosen that year. Among Hugnatan’s batchmates in the draft were Mike Cortez, Rommel Adducul, Harvey Carey, Jimmy Alapag, Cyrus Baguio and Ronald Tubid. Hugnatan has played on three title squads and his best scoring season was in the Clark bubble where he averaged a career-high 11.7 points, the first in 17 years notching double figures.

Santos, 40, is also enjoying a resurgence in his career with San Miguel Beer. Two other players Mark Caguioa, 41, and Asi Taulava, 48, are in the reserve list of their teams. Close to turning 40 are Rain Or Shine’s Mark Borboran whose birthday is on Nov. 1 and TNT’s Jay Washington whose birthday is on Nov. 10. Others who are 39 are TNT’s Kelly Williams, Rain Or Shine’s James Yap, Blackwater’s KG Canaleta and Barangay Ginebra’s Joe Devance. San Miguel Beer’s Alex Cabagnot will turn 39 in December and Ginebra’s Jeff Chan will also turn 39 in February. To these players, as the cliché goes, age is just a number.