Games tomorrow:
(Mall of Asia Arena)
5:15 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs Ginebra
7:30 p.m. — TNT vs Meralco
It was tied at the end of the third quarter.
Then, defending champion TNT went on full throttle.
Calvin Oftana fueled a decisive fourth-quarter run to create a sizeable Tropang 5G margin that kept Meralco at bay the rest of the way for a 94-89 victory in Game 1 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
TNT weathered a scary late-game push by the Bolts that trimmed a once imposing 11-point lead to just three points with under a minute left to draw first blood in the best-of-seven series.
Game 2 is on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Learning their lesson from their elimination round loss where the Tropang 5G went down by as many as 20 points and came up short in mounting a comeback, the Chot Reyes-mentored squad showed energy from the get-go and never allowed the Bolts an inch.
“The one thing that we focused on in our pre-game, the foundation of our game plan, is to not allow Meralco to outwork us and to win the effort stats,” Reyes said.
TNT did just that especially when the Bolts rallied from a 90-79 deficit in the last 3:04 of the ballgame to just 92-89 in the last 56 seconds after Meralco guard Bong Quinto connected with a four-pointer.
A Bol Bol layup gave the Tropang 5G more breathing room before TNT made consecutive defensive gems to walkaway with the win.
“So, diving on the ball for the loose ball, extra effort, deflections, setting good screens, all the little things that Meralco is very good at (we worked on that),” Reyes said.
“I thought that if we’re able to match their energy and effort then that will give us a good chance to win. And I think in the end our defense held strong. That’s the story of the ball game.”
Seven-foot-three Bol outplayed his Bolts counterpart Marvin Jones with a near triple-double of 37 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists he laced with six blocks in more than 42 minutes of action for TNT.
RR Pogoy contributed 21 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Heading had 16 points while Oftana scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 11 boards.
Tied at 69 going into the payoff period, Oftana powered a blistering 14-2 run with eight points turn a 74-75 deficit into an 88-77 lead with 4:45 left.
Meralco tried to turn things around but TNT was able to put on the right stops in the end.
Jones had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Quinto had 17 points, CJ Cansino submitted 12 points and Chris Newsome was quiet with 11 points for the Bolts.
The eighth-seeded TNT was able to build an 11-point lead early in the second quarter but failed to keep its double-digit lead with Meralco putting up a tough fight.
Bol dropped 22 points in the opening half as the Tropang 5G took a 53-49 advantage heading into the intermission.
