Quantcast
Mahindra Enforcers 92
VS
TNT Ka Tropa 104
FINAL
Preview
Recap

TNT snaps losing skid, halts Mahindra

_MG_2027

TNT KaTropa gave Mahindra a dose of its own three-point shooting medicine and reaped some welcome dividends in return.

Troy Rosario sparked the Texters’three-point shooting binge in the fourth period, resulting in a 104-92 victory over the Floodbuster Wednesday that got the former back into the upper half of the PBA Philippine Cup standings at the Cuneta Astrodome.

TNT went 6-for-14 from beyond the arc in the second half, including 4-of-9 in the fourth period, and, with its defense also kicking in, met little trouble the rest of the way in snapping out of a two-game slide.

Mahindra, which made 17 of its first 32 field goal attempts, including 5-for-13 in three-pointers, was held to a miserable 6-for-23 field shooting in the final frame and only 1-for-7 from deep in the payoff period.

It was not as easy as it looked for coach Nash Racela after his team improved to a 5-4 record overall that tied it with idle Blackwater at fourth-running position while cutting short the Floodbuster’s winning run at two.

“It was tough playing Mahindra,”said Racela. “Grabe ang confidence nila because of those two wins and it took our best to really cover ‘yung mga shooters nila.”

The Texters’ offense was led by Rosario, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds with Roger Pogoy adding a career-high 16 points to go with four assists and as many steals. They more than made up for Jayson Castro getting limited to just 10 points and Ranidel de Ocampo seven.

Alex Mallari led everybody with 19 points, but he shot only 6-of-17 from the field with the Floodbuster’s other outside threats in Philip Paniamogan, Jason Deutchman and Mike Digregorio shut out when it mattered the most.

As a result, Mahindra dropped to a tie at 11th with NLEX on a 2-6 record and into a must-win situation in its remaining elimination round games against Alaska on Sunday, NLEX next Friday and Star at elims end on Feb. 1.

For its part, TNT fanned its chances of making the quarterfinals, an objective that would be realized should it prevail over GlobalPort on Wednesday and San Miguel Beer on Jan. 28.

Racela is just glad his team seems to be adjusting more to his system, explaining how it snapped out of its funk.

“Based on this game I can see the players really finding ways to play together and try to deliver a positive outcome for us,” said Racela. “It’s a process, but Im just hoping we’re moving in the right direction.”

That hardly showed in the first half when TNT missed all its 11 attempts from beyond the arc while Mahindra went 5-of-13, enabling the latter to lead by as many as seven points.

But when Pogoy finally broke the ice early in the third quarter, things started falling into place for the Texters.

Rosario followed suit with his own trey to give TNT an 82-78 lead going into the fourth and the likes of Larry Fonacier and Ryan Reyes also delivered from deep, stoking a 10-2 exchange that pulled it out of an 88-87 count and into a 98-88 spread.

Any attempt by Mahindra to draw closer would be thwarted and Fonacier looped in a jumper and Rosario a followup dunk to peg the final count, only 30 ticks left.

Mahindra made its first four three-point attempts in the second quarter, helping it raze a 30-40 deficit and go into the break with a 57-51 spread.

In contrast, Mahindra emerged with a 5-for-13 clip from three-point land and 17-for-32 in all.
One bright spot for TNT is Kris Rosales, who already had 10 points at the half and his baseline jumper gave his team a 40-30 spread.

The Texters would go on to convert only four more field goal attempts from there, however, while the likes of Deutchman and Ronnie Celda sparked the Floodbuster’s surge fueled by Mallari and Russell Escoto.

The scores:

TNT 104 – Rosario 18, Pogoy 16, Tautuaa 14, Rosales 11, Fonacier 11, Castro 10, Reyes 7, Rosser 7, De Ocampo 7, Golla 2, Carey 1, Williams 0.

MAHINDRA 92 – Mallari 19, Paniamogan 10, Yee 10, Revilla 8, Deutchman 7, Celda 7, Escoto 6, Salva 6, Arana 6, Galanza 5, Ballesteros 3, Elorde 3, Eriobu 2, Digregorio 0,

Quarterscores: 29-25, 51-57, 82-78, 104-92

POST GAME

Follow Us


Other Stories:

Recent Stories:

Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.