Rising Titan Ultra tackles Macau
JOSHUA Munzon and Titan Ultra get a big boost confidence-wise following their 103-87 upset of defending champion TNT on Thursday in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PBA
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JOSHUA Munzon and Titan Ultra get a big boost confidence-wise following their 103-87 upset of defending champion TNT on Thursday in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PBA
Games today:
(Ynares Center-Antipolo)
5:15 p.m. — Macau vs Titan Ultra
7:30 p.m. — Terrafirma vs TNT
Brimming with confidence after getting over the hump, Titan Ultra now eyes a second straight win against slumping guest team Macau in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Governors’ Cup today at Ynares Center-Antipolo.
The Giant Risers are out for a fitting follow-up to their huge upset over no less than defending champion TNT that snapped their three-game slump.
Another victory by Titan Ultra in the 5:15 p.m. Group A curtain-raiser will be a huge boost for its bid to contend in the next round.
Behind Tirrell Brown’s double-double output of 29 points and 10 rebounds, the Giant Risers overwhelmed the depleted Tropang 5G, 103-87, last Wednesday at the same venue for their first win in the season-ending conference and a stop to their 10-game slump starting from the last seven games of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Titan Ultra stepped up on defense and, for the first time in the tournament, held an opponent to below 100 points.
“So, I’m very happy with the result, because our game plan, the challenge we gave them, especially on playing defense, they followed and executed them very well,” Giant Risers head coach Rensy Bajar said.
“Hopefully, this will be the start of something good moving forward in our conference. We’ll just enjoy this win, then we’ll just move on and focus on the next game against Macau,” he added.
But taking down the winless Giant Pandas, whose last performance could spark a change of fortune, won’t be an easy task.
Macau has yet to score a breakthrough despite four tries despite the generally sterling efforts from De’Vondre Perry, Damien Chongqui, Ramon Cao and Kobey Lam.
However, should the Giant Pandas play with the same fire in their foiled comeback attempt from 18 points down in the fourth quarter in a 103-106 loss to the Tropang 5G last Sunday, Titan Ultra could be in for a long night.
“It’s coming,” Chongqui said of the long-awaited win of the guest team.
“We were one to two plays to winning the game (against TNT). But it’s coming. I think once we get that first win, a lot of wins will follow after. It’s just about getting over the hump.”
Meanwhile, TNT and Terrafirma seek to return to the win column in their 7:30 p.m. collision.
The Tropang 5G have been playing without injured key players Calvin Oftana, Jayson Castro, JP Erram, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosse and on leave Kelly Williams.
TNT will need to find a way to squeeze more from its available pieces to avoid another flat outing.
After blasting Titan Ultra, 113-100, to start their campaign, the Bossing dropped three games in a row in a tie with the Giant Risers.
But those defeats were pretty tight as Terrafirma had close calls against NLEX, 100-101, Converge, 103-105, and San Miguel Beer, 104-19.
It could mean trouble for TNT if the Dyip finally find the finishing kick.
