The Eastern team has successfully returned to form in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup, achieving a commanding victory over the debuting TNT, with a score of 105-84 on Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Hong Kong-based club demonstrated a remarkable performance in the third quarter, outscoring the Tropang Giga 26-16, thereby establishing the foundation for their much-needed triumph following an 81-99 defeat to Rain or Shine earlier in the week.
Ramon Cao was instrumental in this significant turnaround during the penultimate period, contributing 12 points out of his total of 17, which ultimately earned him the Player of the Game distinction.
Cao’s efforts provided substantial support to Eastern’s import, Cameron Clark, and veterans Hayden Blankley and Glen Yang. Clark delivered an impressive performance, scoring 36 points along with 14 rebounds. Blankley rebounded from a disappointing seven-point outing against Rain or Shine, contributing 24 points and securing 10 rebounds. Yang, making his return after missing the previous game due to passport complications, recorded 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists.
With this victory, Eastern has improved its record to 3-1 overall, while TNT finds itself at 0-1, a month after winning the Governors’ Cup championship.
“We didn’t play well in our last game against Rain or Shine so all of us were mad after the game. So we analyzed, watched videos and figured out what exactly was the problem.
Our defense wasn’t on the level we’re expecting. And tonight, we actually did against a very good team (TNT),” said coach Mensur Bajramovic.
“Main reason why we controlled this game was we rotated well on defense, we switched well. And offensively, ball movement was much, much better than last game. This is the key and I think if we continue like this, we have a chance,” he added.
Eastern pulled this off despite arriving at the NAS behind schedule after getting caught in traffic from its hotel in Quezon City. The squad did their pre-game routines inside the bus and went straight to the court for the warmups upon arrival at the Malate venue.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson fired 33 together with seven rebounds as he carried the brunt of scoring for a TNT squad that missed the services of veterans Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams and even lost Poy Erram to ejection in the first canto.
Erram was slapped a flagrant foul penalty two infraction for his hit on Yang at the 7:48 mark.