SECOND seed TNT joined the march of top seed NorthPort to an early semifinal passage in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Needing one win to wrap things up in the quarterfinals, the Tropang Giga got the job done, blasting Eastern 109-93 on Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Hong Kong club switched to bringing back the original import, Cameron Clark, but TNT anticipated the change and stood its ground. Thus, TNT advanced to the semifinals versus the Converge-Rain or Shine duel winner.
The FiberXers enjoy the upper hand versus the Elasto Painters, 1-0, and they go for the clincher Friday in the same playing venue.
The Tropang Giga, meanwhile, can rest easy for a while with the tournament after the quarters, giving way to Gilas’ preparation and actual games in the February window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Poorly beaten by Clark and his teammates in their elims face-off, the Tropang Giga exacted vengeance, thanks mainly to the sterling efforts of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Rey Nambatac, Poy Erram, Jason Castro, and RR Pogoy.
RHJ collected 31 points and 15 rebounds, Nambatac, Erram, Castro, and Oftana each contributed at least 12 points, and Pogoy made his presence known by neutralizing Glen Yang.
“Roger did a good defensive job on Yang, their heart and soul. Roger’s shooting was a bit off, but he made a big contribution to his defensive effort on Yang,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.
Castro had a big hand in their third-quarter breakaway with clutch shots before shifting to facilitating in their mop-up job in the fourth.
“Sobrang ganda nung defensive rules nila on Rondae, na-feel namin kailangan namin mag-take over. Mabuti naman naka-contribute,” said Castro.
“Maganda rin ang depensa namin. At every time maganda ang defense namin, sumusunod na ang offense,” Castro added.
The two teams fought tooth and nail in the first half, with TNT barely enjoying a 51-50 lead. (SB)
The scores:
TNT 109 – Hollis-Jefferson 31, Nambatac 18, Erram 15, Castro 16, Oftana 12, Pogoy 6, Williams 6, Aurin 4, Khobuntin 1.
Eastern 93 – Blankley 24, Clark 16, Yang 14, Lam 11, Chan 9, Zhu 8, Guinchard 5, Xu 4, Cao 2, Leung 0.
Quarterscores: 27-24, 51-50, 80-73, 109-93