Castro, Little step up in clutch to lift TNT past NLEX
MARIO Little may not be as prolific as his fellow imports, but he does a little of everything.
The former University of Kansas standout proved this Wednesday when he made the crucial shots in the stretch to help lift TNT Katropa over NLEX 101-095 in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Little scattered eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, six of those coming in the last 3:08 that sparked and fueled the Texters’ 10-4 charge from an 89-91 deficit and into their fourth win in as many games.
TNT could even take the solo lead if 3-0 Mahindra loses to Alaska later in the evening, but coach Jong Uichico is definitely pleased with where his team is at right now.
“We just keep winning close games,” said Uichico, whose team played catch-up for majority of the game after trailing by as much as 30-40 in the second quarter.
“We keep hanging in there, we don’t give up, we just keep playing,” added Uichico. “As long as we keep playing hard and keeping our poise and discipline on both ends nakakalusot kami.”
Indeed, the six points is by far TNT’s biggest winning margin yet in the season-ending tourney after three-point thrillers over Rain or Shine and Meralco and a two-point squeaker over Alaska.
Jayson Castro once again played a big hand by hitting his tournament average of 23 points, with 11 coming in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. He added eight assists and seven rebounds.
Troy Rosario, in only his second game back following a knee injury, turned in a personal conference-best 20 points, four complementing Little’s output in the stretch, and 11 rebounds. Michael Madanly added 10 markers.
And then there’s Little, who came into the game averaging just over 14 points, and wound up with 18 on top of nine rebounds and plenty of helpside defense.
“He might not give the numbers we might expect from imports, but he does things which do not show in the stats sheets,” said Uichico. “He is very good in defensive awareness. He makes our defensive system look better.”
The brunt of that defensive system was focused on NLEX’s Henry Walker, who scored 26 points but could not prevent the Road Warriors from losing their third straight game and dropping to a 1-3 slate and a tie with idle Star and Phoenix at ninth-running spot.
Back from a one-game suspension, Asi Taulava scored 14 points, Sean Anthony and Jonas Villanueva chipped in 12 apiece and Mac Baracael 10, but NLEX still must come up with something big during the All-Star break for it to arrest its skid and gain inclusion among the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs.
The Road Warriors could have avoided such a hole if only it was able to withstand TNT’s charge that started gaining steam after it trimmed a 50-59 third quarter deficit to just 65-71 going to the final canto.
Castro and Madanly played the stellar role at the start of the fourth with the Syrian star adding six points in forcing four deadlocks before the game turned into a seesawing battle.
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