FIERY SIBLING DUELS UP
IT’S SMB VS GINEBRA, TNT AGAINST MERALCO
Games tomorrow (Ynares Center, Antipolo) 3 p.m. – San Miguel Beer vs Barangay Ginebra 5:45 p.m. – Meralco vs TNT Taking the cue from early semifinalists San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra, top seed TNT and No. 4 Meralco arranged their own sibling duel in the next round of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The win-once Tropang Giga blitzed to the best-of-five Final Four with an emphatic 132-107 romp over No. 8 Phoenix in their side of the quarterfinals yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Not to be outdone, the twice-tobeat Bolts ground out a pulsating 113-107 comeback victory in overtime over fifth-ranked Magnolia in the nightcap to follow their fellow MVP Group franchise in the battle for a coveted seat to the championship.
TNT and Meralco’s victories completed the semis cast after sister teams SMB, the No. 2 seed, and Ginebra, the No. 3, made short work of their respective quarters opponents, No. 7 Converge (121-105) and No. 6 NLEX (127-93) last Sunday, to set their semis dance.
The fiery race to the finals immediately blasts off tomorrow over at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Shaking off a “frustrating” first half, the Tropang Giga unleashed a telling 34-19 salvo in the third canto to seize control against the Fuel Masters, 100-83.
Glenn Khobuntin sparked that breakaway with three triples and wound up with a career-high 19 points en route to Player of the Game honors.
TNT drew the usual solid games from import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who turned in an 18-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, and local aces RR Pogoy (25-11), Jayson Castro (20), Calvin Oftana (15) and Mikey Williams (14).
For its part, no-quit Meralco wiped out a seven-point deficit in the last 1:30 of regulation to force Magnolia to extra time, then leaned on Chris Newsome’s 10-point late outburst to seal the deal. The scores: First Game TNT 132 – Pogoy 25, Castro 20, Khobuntin 19, Hollis-Jefferson 18, Oftana 15, M.Williams 14, Chua 6, Erram 6, Montalbo 3, Marcelo 2, K.Williams 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Varilla 0, Tungcab 0.
Phoenix 105 – Maxwell 23, Perkins 21, Mocon 15, Serrano 9, Jazul 8, Manganti 8, Tio 7, Muyang 5, Soyud 3, Lojera 3, Alejandro 3, Garcia 0, Camacho 0, Adamos 0, Go 0. Quarterscores: 38-41, 66-64, 100-83, 132-105 Second Game Meralco 113 – Newsome 33, McDaniels 27, Banchero 16, Black 16, Maliksi 9, Almazan 7, Quinto 3, Hodge 2, Caram 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0.
Magnolia 107 – Lee 22, Hester 21, Barroca 18, Abueva 15, Jalalon 9, Dela Rosa 8, Dionisio 6, Wong 4, Escoto 4, Corpuz 0.
Quarterscores: 22-21, 47-49, 76-78, 96-96, 113-107