KaTropa regain upper hand
Game tomorrow (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 6:30 p.m. – Awarding of Best Player/Best Import of the Conference 6:35 p.m. – San Miguel Beer vs TNT KaTropa (Game 4) TNT leads best-of-seven series 2-1
TNT KaTropa were pinned down early on with Terrence Jones taken out of the equation. But with Jones returning to action with a vengeance, the KaTropa squeezed out of trouble and delivered the telling blows to take back control in the PB A Commissioner’ s Cup title series against San Miguel, 2-to-1.
Forced to sit out three minutes in the first quarter after getting slapped with a flagrant penalty one for headbutting Chris Ross, Jones came back mightily, spearheading a 24-0 blast in the second period that lit the fire for the KaTropa’s 115-105 victory in pivotal Game 3 last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With Jones on the bench, San Miguel quickly took advantage and rattled eight straight points to fuel a 21-5 blast en route to a 33-18 tear.
The Beermen stretched their lead to 17 at 36-19 before Jones and the KaTropa raked in 24 unanswered points in a big turnaround. Gaining an initial 43-36 upperhand, the charging KaTropa widened the gap to as many as 15 markers and quelled SMB’s rally attempts.
“Emotions were high at the start of the game. We just had to stay in the game, stay focused and not get carried away by emotions. We played our game, played harder and it helped us come back,” said TNT coach Bong Ravena, whose team’s game-changing 24-0 blast was the second longest unanswered run in PBA finals history, next only to Ginebra’s 31-0 salvo in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the 1991 First Conference title series against Shell.
“Despite the big deficit, we just focused, stayed composed as we know we can still come back and we had time to do it,” said Don Trollano, who had a career-high18 spiked by three treys.
Jones flirted with a triple double-statline with 39 markers, 18 rebounds and nine assists to go with five blocks for the victors. Aside from Trollano, RR Pogoy also contributed heavily with 29 built around five threes while Jayson Castro scored 14 with seven feeds.
Chris McCullough and June Mar Fajardo each posted 27 markers and 13 boards for the Beermen, whose fall was hastened by their atrocious second-quarter showing.
“For the first time we had a good start, we had a 17-point lead but we failed to protect it. In the second quarter, we allowed them to play their game and we suddenly scrambled in our offense and defense,” said SMB mentor Leo Austria. The scores: TNT 115 – Jones 37, Pogoy 29, Trollano 18, Castro 14, Rosario 13, Heruela 4, Washington 0, Golla 0, Taha 0, Carey 0, D. Semerad 0, Casino 0, Magat 0.
San Miguel 105 – McCullough 27, Fajardo 27, Romeo 13, Pessumal 12, Santos 10, Standhardinger 8, Ross 5, Cabagnot 3, Rosser 0.
Quarterscores: 18-33, 55-50, 86-78, 115-105