De Ocampo leads TNT rally past Ginebra
PBA IMAGES
TNT outlasted Barangay Ginebra in a roller-coaster battle, breaking into the win-column in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup with a 108-103 decision Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The KaTropa opened a double-digit spread right in the first half, fell behind by 14 in the third quarter then rose up again in the final period to bounce back from their 101-87 loss to Rain or Shine Wednesday.
“It’s good win for us after a rough first game (against Rain or Shine),” said interim TNT coach Josh Reyes.
“We had to make a lot of adjustments. It was an advantage for us as this is Ginebra’s first game. When we changed defense, it worked. But we’re not counting on that again,” Reyes also said.
With Jayson Castro still resting, Ranidel de Ocampo carried the cudgels for TNT in the crucial moment of the game, firing away 15 of his 22 points in the payoff period to personally foil the Kings’ bid for a triumphant season start.
“He just showed that he’s the leader of the team,” said Reyes of De Ocampo who also collected seven rebounds and four assists in 31:29 minutes of action.
Roger Pogoy was among six players that backed up De Ocampo with double-digit outputs. The rookie gunner from FEU scored 15 points, including two charities that made it 106-103 for TNT with time down to 20.5 seconds.
LA Tenorio picked up from where he left off last conference, leading all scorers with 27 but was limited to three in the final canto.
The Ginebra loss took the luster on Mark Caguioa’s personal milestone.
Caguioa scored four points and moved past Manny Victorino, getting into No. 16 in the all-time scoring list with 9,597.
Joe Devance and Chris Ellis led the way as the Kings waged a chase from 12 points down late in the second quarter then built a 14-point spread, 78-64, in the third period.
The two Fil-Am forwards nailed nine points each while Tenorio, Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar combined for 16 as the Kings outscored the Texters, 34-23, in the third.
Devance, Ellis and Thompson strung up four treys to highlight their third-quarter surge.
But the KaTropa had their own searing rally in the next quarter, with De Ocampo leading a fightback that knotted the count at 99-all and paved the way for the tight finish.
The scores:
TNT 108 – De Ocampo 22, Pogoy 15, Fonacier 15, Tautuaa 12, Rosario 12, Williams 11, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, Reyes 8, Carey 3, Hernandez 0, Rosales 0, Sumalinog 0.
GINEBRA 103 – Tenorio 27, Aguilar 15, Devance 15, Thompson 13, Ellis 12, Mercado 7, Marcelo 6, Caguioa 4, Ferrer 3, Mariano 1, Cruz 0, Taha 0.
Quarters: 34-30, 53-53, 76-87, 108-103.
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