TNT used a late surge to pull away from a close game and beat Meralco 78 to 71 at the Ynares Center on Saturday in the PBA 47th Season Philippine Cup.
RR Pogoy scored 19 points, including a shot at the end of an 8-0 run with 2:22 left in the fourth quarter to give his team a 73 to 65 lead, their largest of the game.
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The Tropang Giga, who also received contributions from Troy Rosario, Poy Erram, and third-string guard Jjay Alejandro, won their third game in a row while delivering the Bolts their first loss in three games.
In the final moments, RR Pogoy delivers.
For the Tropang Giga, Rosario had 16 points while Erram had 13 points and eight rebounds. Jayson Castro contributed 10 points.
Alejandro finished with eight points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals while collaborating with Brian Heruela on back-to-back three-pointers to help break a 65 to 65 tie.
TNT is still without Mikey Williams, but other players have stepped forward to fill in.
“We did a better job in the second half of taking care of the ball and not giving Meralco opportunities to score in those turnovers. In the end, like I said, without Mikey Williams, we are not going to outscore people in games. Our chance is to limit them. Today we were able to limit a team like Meralco,” Reyes stated.
Allein Maliksi scored 20 points and Chris Newsome added 13, but Meralco was without Black, who had a career-high 25 points in their previous game versus Converge.
TNT 78 – Pogoy 19, Rosario 16, Erram 13, Castro 10, Alejandro 8, Heruela 5, Khobuntin 3, K. Williams 2, Marcelo 2, Cruz 0, Reyes 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Banal 0.
Summary of Scores
Meralco scored 71 – Maliksi 20, Newsome 13, Quinto 13, Banchero 12, Hodge 6, Almazan 5, Hugnatan 2, Caram 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0, Pascual 0, Baclao 0.
Quarter Scores: 16-19; 31-32; 57-54; 78-71.
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