TNT found its range early and sustained its red-hot shooting the rest of the way in a 110-87 rout of defending champion San Miguel Beer in Game 4 for the series equalizer in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup championship Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Despite the dampener of RR Pogoy re-injuring his hamstring in the second quarter, the Tropang 5G tied the best-of-seven showdown to two games apiece.
Down to a virtual best-of-three, the pivotal Game 5 is on Friday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
Calvin Oftana exploded for a personal conference-best 29 points on 11-of-18 field goal shooting, including a 5-of-8 three-point sniping for TNT, which shot 50 percent from the field and connected 14 of its 31 treys.
The Tropang 5G blasted 65 points in the first half to set the tone in the lopsided ballgame that saw the Chot Reyes-mentored squad lead by as many as 35.
“Anytime you come up with a victory like this. It’s always a combination of both (offense and defense). But it was very important for us to get our offense on track. The way to beat a team like San Miguel is to make sure that you’re scoring on them,” Reyes said.
TNT built a 65-40 lead by halftime before blowing the game wide open, 82-47, with 5:24 left in the third quarter after a Simon Enciso triple.
Jordan Heading had 17 points and six assists while Rey Nambatac finished with 13 markers as the Tropang 5G spoiled San Miguel center June Mar Fajardo’s record 13th Best Player of the Conference award he received before the game.
Unfortunately, TNT lost Pogoy after aggravating his hamstring injury in the 10:20 mark of the second quarter with the Tropang 5G up by 20 points.
Pogoy, who missed the first two games of the finals due the same injury, had six points after nailing his two three-point attempts.
Fajardo had a double-double of 18 points and 16 rebounds while Don Trollano and CJ Perez added 13 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Beermen, who committed 21 turnovers that the Tropang 5G converted to 29 points.