PETRON SECURES No. 3 SEED WITH WIN OVER TNT
Petron Blaze and Talk n Text have found themselves pitted in a virtual “best-of-four” quarterfinals showdown.
In “Game One” or the preview to the real battle beginning Friday, the Boosters banked heavily on the efforts of their Twin Tower combination of Henry Sims and Junmar Fajardo as they repulsed the Texters, 87-76, at the close of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
Petron (8-6) wound up at No. 3 behind Alaska Milk (11-3) and Rain or Shine (9-5) while Talk n Text was relegated to sixth at 7-7.
The Meralco Bolts, the Texters and the Barangay Ginebra Kings actually finished with identical slates. They ended up on that order, though, upon the application of the quotient tiebreak system.
“It’s hard to motivate a team when there’s nothing at stake in a game. For this game, we just told the guys we haven’t beaten Talk n Text in a long while. That’s our motivation,” said Petron coach Olsen Racela.
“First time namin sila tinalo after nine losses. Pero alam namin na hindi naman nilabas ni coach Norman (Black) lahat ng baraha nya. The real battle starts Friday, and we’ll see,” Racela also said.
The rookie coach is hopeful they can sustain the effort they showed in the non-bearing match.
“Not just the game put up by Fajardo. We need a collective effort to beat Talk n Text. Kailangan maganda lahat ang laro,” said Racela.
Sims and Fajardo both churned out double-double numbers, allowing the Boosters to end their elims stint on a winning note.
Sims collected 22 points and 23 rebounds, Fajardo got 17 markers and 10 boards, while Denok Miranda and Ronald Tubid combined for 24 points, seven rebounds and the same number of assists.
The Boosters pulled away from a tight game as they dominated the paint while playing together Sims and Fajardo together in the fourth quarter.
“Ang ganda ng combination nila kanina. Si Junmar nagpakita kahit sino ang ilagay sa kanya. He’s really hard to stop when he’s hot,” said Racela.
The Boosters lorded it over the boards, grabbing 62 rebounds as against the Texters’ 43. And Petron outscored TnT, 16-5, on second chance points.
But despite the big difference in rebounding, the two teams engaged in a battle until the Boosters unleashed a 15-5 run from a 62-60 count.
Sims and Fajardo anchored Petron’s strong finish, combining for 17 points in the last quarter. (SB)
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