Matt Ganuelas-Rosser’s addition to the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters last season helped the team solve its lack of a legitimate perimeter defender.
It was only a matter of how to incorporate Ganuelas-Rosser into TNT’s player lineups so he would be of good use, while preventing teams from exposing his lack of shooting.
Against Globalport, the Tropang Texters were able to insert Ganuelas-Rosser without sufficing much on offense.
In the second quarter, Ganuelas-Rosser played the point, and kept Jayson Castro off the ball. It did not only gave Castro more rest while actually on the floor; the space was not sacrificed as Globalport defenders have to be wary of Ganuelas-Rosser’s driving ability.
Together with Troy Rosario and a handful of shooters, the result was devastating. TNT outscored Globalport 38-22 in the second period alone. Most of the shots were catch and shoot jumpers as a result of drives to the basket by Ganuelas-Rosser and Castro.
“I’ve been playing point guard pretty much my whole life. Lately, we’ve been trying to find ways to preserve Jayson (Castro) towards the end of the game so I helped take that load off him so he won’t be pressured that much,” Ganuelas-Rosser shared after the win.
“Just being able to help the team, that’s pretty much what I do. Jayson did stay fresh and was able to attack more.”
Castro finished with 25 points and six assists in close to 30 minutes, while Ganuelas-Rosser added six points and two dimes. The latter also did a decent job on Globalport’s star backcourt duo of Stanley Pringle and Terrence Romeo, showing the importance his role on both ends of the floor.
“It was rough night. Those guys are great players. My biggest thing is just to challenge them and let them take tough shots, and work hard for every point that they get,” he said. “Luckily we had the stops to win the game. You cannot stop them all the time, you just have to make it hard and tire them out.”
TNT’s investment on Ganuelas-Rosser to the team surely paid dividends, and the athletic wing man has been showing a lot more ever since.
