COLD-BLOODED TROPANG TEXTERS DRAW FIRST BLOOD
TALK ‘N Text avoided being struck by the Alaska lightning anew Wednesday, but just barely.
No little thanks to Ryan Reyes’s clutch triple and a disorganized Aces play near the end, the Tropang Texters escaped with a 66-65 squeaker at the start of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The close manner the initial win in the best-of-seven duel was fashioned prevented TNT coach Norman Black from being overly glad, however.
“It was a very difficult win for us. Hats off to Alaska for playing us tough,” said Black. “Now we have to go back to the drawing board and see what Alaska did to us.”
Ironically, Aces counterpart Luigi Trillo emerged more upbeat despite the loss.
“Overall, it gives me hope,” said Trillo.
“If you want a team to idolize, it’s Talk ‘N Text, the way they have dominated this league the past two, three years,” he added. “But we showed we can stay with them and even have a chance to win in the end.”
It was the lowest output by either team and the combined scores were also the season-low and Black said Alaska did a splendid job taking them out of their rhythm.
“Alaska did a lot of things that slowed us down,” said Black.
Things could have been drastically different had Alaska been able to cash in on its last play, what with still 14.3 seconds left after Reyes’ go-ahead trey from the left corner off Jayson Castro’s find.
After a TNT foul left Alaska 11 seconds, Jayvee Casio got the inbounds, passed off to Tony dela Cruz and popped out, expecting the ball’s return.
Dela Cruz, however, opted to instead go for a turnaround jumper which was wide of the rim and Castro collared the rebound and dribbled away the remaining seconds.
That prevented Casio from playing the hero’s role against TNT anew, like what he did with a game-winning drive in the last three seconds that resulted in a 94-92 win in their lone eliminations meeting.
“Breaks of the game,” said Trillo.
Black himself said he was pleased with his charges’ efforts despite a blown eight-point lead and being faced with a 56-61 deficit, the last going into the last 4:38 of the game.
“I’m very happy we grinded out. It showed what this team is made of,” said Black. “We could have given up along the way, but we grinded it out to the very end and Ryan hit a huge shot.”
Castro’s 17 points and 11 rebounds led TNT with Ranidel de Ocampo the lone other double-digit scorer with 11.
Sonny Thoss’ 14 points and as many rebounds paced Alaska, with RJ Jazul adding 11 points and Calvin Abueva finding his scoring touch late for 10 along with a game-high 17 caroms.
“We played better in the second half,” noted Trillo after his team was limited to only 28 points in the first half, six behind TNT. “In the first half, it’s like jitters for everybody.”
Even Casio got to score all his six points only in the fourth period and those all came to stretch Alaska’s 50-47 lead after three quarters to five.
Yet the Tropang Texters kept plodding on and its chances to pull it off became clearer following Larry Fonacier’s followup that made it 63-65.
In the ensuing plays, both teams exchanged flubbed shots before Thoss touched the ball last off a Castro miss that set up Reyes’ game-winner.
Alaska showed it could indeed battle the defending champions on even terms by grittily fighting back from as much as three eight-point deficits, the last at 26-34.
With Jazul spearheading the charge with two triples and Abueva, who missed his first six shots from the field and first four charities, scored his first six points inside the last 2:15 of the third period to help make it a 50-47 game. (NC)
The scores:
TALK N’ TEXT 66 – Castro 17, De Ocampo 11, Fonacier 8, Carey 8, Alapag 8, Reyes 7, Dillinger 3, Williams 2, Peek 2, Gamalinda 0, Aban 0.
ALASKA 65 – Thoss 14, Jazul 11, Abueva 10, Baguio 8, Espinas 7, Casio 6, Hontiveros 5, Baracael 2, Dela Cruz 2, Belasco 0.
Quarterscores: 17-11, 34-28, 47-50, 66-65
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
