TROPANG GIGA GO BACK-TO-BACK
Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 4:30 p.m. – Blackwater vs Terrafirma / 6:45 p.m. – Meralco vs San Miguel Ahead of TNT’s matchup with Converge, TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa issued a challenge to import Jalen Hudson: Shoot the basketball with better efficiency. And Hudson responded bigtime.
Knocking down 21 of his 31 attempts, Hudson delivered a 56-point scorcher to tow the Tropang Giga past the erstwhile unbeaten FiberXers, 128122, for back-to-back wins in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With this result, the Tropang Giga caught up with the FiberXers at 4-1 at fourth spot.
“Thanks for responding,” Lastimosa said in greeting Hudson, whose 67.7-percent marksmanship was a huge improvement from his 40-percent clip in the first four outings, at the postgame presser. “I know what he’s capable of doing. He’s as quick as anybody here and he’s athletic. If he gets by his main man, there’s no 7-footer to stop him so I told him to attack without being in a hurry,” Lastimosa explained later. Hudson was on-target that he drilled in six of his 11 tries from beyond the arc. He shot 12 in the fourth period where TNT outplayed Converge, 35-28, to pull away.
Later, Jeremiah Gray drilled in three triples in a searing 13-3 closing barrage that lifted Barangay Ginebra to a 114-111 thriller over NLEX and its new import Wayne Selden Jr.
Gray’s long bombs highlighted his 19-point season-high output as he backed up Justin Brownlee’s 44-16-6 and keyed the Gin Kings’ second straight win. The Road Warriors, who drew 43 markers from the debuting Selden Jr., fell to 4-1.