Jayson Castro displayed vintage form as No. 2 seed TNT knocked out guest team Hong Kong Eastern, 109-93, to book a semifinals ticket in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. 

Limited to just three points in the first half, the veteran guard poured 13 of his 16 markers in the third quarter to fuel the Tropang Giga’s breakaway for their eventual entry into the next round without the need to use their twice-to-beat advantage.

“Jayson played a hell of a game,” TNT coach Chot Reyes said of his prized court general.

The Tropang Giga will face in the best-of-seven semifinals the winner between Converge and Rain or Shine in the other quarters pairing. The FiberXers lead the best-of-three series, 1-0.

TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson finished with 31 points and 15 rebounds, Rey Nambatac had 18 markers while Poy Erram and Calvin Oftana had 15 and 12 points, respectively.

From a slim, 51-50, lead at halftime, the reigning Governors’ Cup champion erected a seven-point lead heading into the payoff period.

TNT also took advantage of Eastern import Cameron Clark sitting out for five minutes after getting whistled with a landing spot infraction on RR Pogoy late in the third period.

“When he was forced to come out because of that landing spot foul, at the start of the fourth quarter I told the players, ‘Now let’s start our run without Clark inside.’ Thankfully they responded,” Reyes said.

The Tropang Giga blew the game wide-open, 109-90, after Erram coverted a layup with just 17 seconds left.

Hayden Blankley scored 24 points and Clark, who came in as a replacement import on the eve of the match, finished with 16 markers for the Eastern.

Glen Yang had 14 markers, six dishes and five boards while Kobey Lam struggled from the field with 5-of-12 shooting for 11 markers.

The scores:

TNT (109) --- Hollis-Jefferson 31, Nambatac 18, Castro 16, Oftana 12, Erram 15, Pogoy 6, Williams 6, Aurin 4, Khobuntin 1

EASTERN (93) --- Blankley 24, Clark 16, Yang 14, Lam 11, Chan 9, Zhu 8, Guincahrd 5, Xu 4, Cao 2, Leung 0.

Quarters: 27-24, 51-50, 80-73, 109-93