TALK N TEXT GAINS PIECE OF LEAD
Commissioner’s Cup title protagonists San Mig Coffee and Talk n Text are tied in the lead at the halfway point of the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup elimination round.
The Tropang Texters caught up with the Mixers at the helm as they roared to a third straight win with a 102-91 drubbing of the Air21 Express at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Monday night.
Ranidel de Ocampo fired away 24 points and threw away some physical plays against Dominique Sutton as he stood out in Talk n Text’s fourth win against a loss.
Jayson Castro, Jimmy Alapag, Rodney Carney, Kelly Williams and Harvey Carey contributed double-digit outputs as the Texters negated the big numbers of Sutton and Asi Taulava, dealing the Express a second loss in five games.
Sutton led all scorers with 31 points while Tauvala added 20, but other Air21 key players Joseph Yeo and Mark Cardona ran smack into the sturdy TnT defensive wall.
Yeo and Cardona were held down to a combined output of 11 points.
With a balanced production, the Texters dominated the Express in the last three quarters of play.
From 16-19 down, the Texters seized control on a 10-0 run spread over the closing minutes of the first quarter and into the early goings of the second period.
The Express never stopped putting resistance, but neither did the Texters stop their relentless job, leading by 20 points once before wrapping up the lopsided win.
Alapag scored on a drive against Asi Taulava and knocked in the accompanying charity before De Ocampo made two charities off Sutton as TnT led by 20 at 95-75 with 6:57 left to play.
Behind a small, quick lineup, the Express rallied to within 10 at 87-97.
They had a chance to further chop down their deficit but they fumbled a fastbreak play. The Texters settled the outcome of the game as De Ocampo set up Williams for a two-handed jam, making it 99-87 with a little over a minute left to play. (SB)
The scores:
TALK N’ TEXT 102 – De Ocampo 24, Castro 19, Alapag 16, Carney 12, Williams 11, Carey 10, Fonacier 5, Baclao 3, Canaleta 2, Reyes Rob 0, Reyes Ryan 0.
AIR21 91 – Sutton 31, Taulava 20, Ramos 10, Poligrates 8, Yeo 8, Villanueva J. 5, Atkins 4, Cardona 3, Borboran 2, Villanueva E. 0, Jaime 0, Burtscher 0, Camson 0.
Quarterscores: 23-19, 52-44, 83-67, 102-91
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