TALK ‘N TEXT SWEEPS PETRON BLAZE

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JEROME Jordan finally contributed to Talk N Text’s cause – but only just.

With the Tropang Texters’ locals doing most of the damage they managed a 96-86 win over Petron Blaze Sunday to advance to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ranidel de Ocampo, Jayson Castro and Ryan Reyes all made the clutch baskets, enabling TNT to reprise its 100-93 victory in the best-of-three series opener last Friday and advance to its ninth straight semifinal appearance.

“Give a lot of credit to the locals. They stepped up when Jerome was on the bench with foul trouble. They just delivered,” said Black.

Like what he did in Game One Jordan wound up with 11 points and five rebounds and rode the bench for majority of the third period due to four fouls. But he did score six of his points and haul down three of his boards in the fourth quarter that helped the Texters’ cause.

His four straight points shattered the game’s 10th and last deadlock at 79 before the locals took over.

“Jerome did deliver for us in the end, with his production, rebounding in the endgame,” noted Black.

Marcio Lassiter had a game-high 23 points and Henry Sims wound up with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but Petron still dropped its third best-of-three in four appearances and this one did not even go the distance like the other two.

All because the Boosters had nobody to spark them when it mattered most.

Typifying Petron’s struggles were the five straight attempts it missed while trying to whittle an 86-91 deficit just inside the last two-minute mark.

When TNT finally got possession, Reyes scooped in a layup that made it a very safe 93-86 count, only 33.6 ticks left.

Now Petron can only look forward to a sixth-place finish at best in the tournament, which is still just a rung higher than what it landed in the Philippine Cup. Its official finish in the mid-season tourney depends on the other quarterfinal results.

For its part, TNT now has the luxury of awaiting the winner of the quarterfinals pairing between Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine that has been stretched to a deciding game Monday.

“This is a big win for us, and it’s going to be either Rain or Shine or Ginebra so I’m going to be watching their game with a lot of interest,” quipped Black, refusing to name which team he prefers to face.

“Definitely Rain or Shine is the bigger team and they can match up better with us, while we have the size advantage over Ginebra,” said Black.

Jordan should definitely pick up his game in that series, but Black himself offered his own explanation on the lackluster performance so far of the 7-foot Jamaican who has had stints with the New York Knicks and the LA D-Fenders.

“Jerome’s young, he’s only 26. I think he’s not really accustomed or used to the physical play here in the PBA, which is strange because they have much bigger players in the NBA and the NBA D-League,” said Black.

“Hopefully, he’s just getting used to the physicality. Let’s see what happens in the next series, what the matchups are gonna be like. ” (NC)

The scores:

TALK N’ TEXT 96 – De Ocampo 17, Castro16, Reyes 14, Alapag 12, Jordan 11, Dillinger 8, Al-Hussaini 7, Peek 7, Fonacier 4, Aban 0, Ferriols 0, Carey 0.

PETRON BLAZE 86 – Lassiter 23, Sims 17, Fajardo 15, Santos 15, Miranda 10, Cabagnot 4, Washington 2, Lutz 0, Tubid 0, Pena.

Quarterscores: 28-32, 52-56, 73-74, 96-86

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