Led by Kelly Williams’ 18 points and 5 rebounds, Talk n Text earns their first win for this PBA conference. Jonas Villanueva’s 19 points on 8-9 shooting was not enough to power NLEX to victory.
TNT started the game strong as they went on a 9-3 run to end the first quarter, 28-15. NLEX countered during the second quarter, as they managed to trim the deficit to 5, 39-34 at the end of the first half.
This would be NLEX’s last attempt to cut at the lead.
Williams led the charge in the third. He scored on a basket, followed by a Jay Washington 3. Williams wasn’t done yet as he scored on an alley-oop, even managing to steal the ball and go on a fastbreak layup that bumped the lead to 12, 51-39. Asi Taulava scored NLEX’s next three points, but that was only his 5th point in the game so far, a far cry from his 21 points the previous game. Back-to-back baskets from Williams and a fastbreak layup from Matt Ganuelas-Rosser further increased the TnT lead to 15, 42-57.
Even rookie Kevin Alas got into the game. Close to the end of the third quarter, Alas scored on a lay-up, and managed to go 2-2 on the free throw line. Carey put icing on the cake with a layup that gave TnT a 20-point lead to end the third, 75-55.
The fourth saw both Enrico and Jonas Villanueva attempt to bring NLEX back into the game. Enrico scored the first two baskets for NLEX, but he was unable to bring the deficit closer due to a Ranidel De Ocampo triple. Mac Cardona going 2-2 from the line, followed by back-to-back triples by Jonas Villanueva brought the deficit down to 14, 81-67. The deficit was cut even further when Cardona bagged a triple, followed by an Enrico Villanueva basket from the inside. Unfortunately for NLEX, TnT went on another run that put the game out of reach for the Road Warriors. J. Wash was fouled after stealing the ball, making both shots while retaining possession due to the clear path foul. This was followed by back-to-back triples from former Atenean Larry Fonacier and Washington, giving TnT a 93-74 lead with less than 5 minutes to go in the game.
TnT scored on back-to-back baskets to close the quarter, crushing NLEX by 22 points, 103-81.
