Coming off a loss to the Globalport Batang Pier five days ago, the TNT Katropa had to overcome a furious second half fightback by the Meralco Bolts to return to the win column, 113-107, Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Katropa improved to 5-3 in the standings, moving to just a win away from the 2017 Governor’s Cup playoffs. The Bolts, on the other hand, absorbed their second loss of the season-ending conference and are now 5-2.
“Nakaka-nerbiyos,” said TNT head coach Nash Racela, whose team’s main focus in the game was to lock down the reigning Best Import Allen Durham. “But it took us team effort to be able to at least make it hard for him offensively.”
“That’s expected because we’re playing against the best import,” added the first-year head coach of the six-foot-five American reinforcement, who still had a game-high 39 points and 24 rebounds in nearly 41 minutes of action.
Import Glen Rice, Jr. topped the Katropa with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists, while Jayson Castro supplied 27 markers on 8-of-13 shooting. Kelly Williams went vintage in the victory with 16 points and 13 caroms.
Once down by 21, 56-35, late in the first half, Meralco made a spirited rally come the next two quarters. Perfect charities from Chris Newsome with 1:42 remaining in the payoff period lifted the Bolts to within a field goal, 107-105.
But the Katropa had more tricks up their sleeve down the stretch. A Rice, Jr. and-one and Castro’s own freebies off Jared Dillinger’s sixth foul widened the team in blue’s lead once more, 111-105, with 57.4 seconds on the clock.
Chris Newsome still managed to punch in a lay-up off a hard attack to the rim, but Roger Pogoy’s foul shots with 11.4 seconds left to play were TNT’s finishing touches to seal the bounce-back victory.
Pogoy finished with 11 points for TNT.
Baser Amer was Durham’s only back-up in offense as he provided 21 markers on 16 shots — to go with five rebounds and four dimes — for Meralco. Newsome filled up the stat sheet with six points, eight boards, and five assists.
TNT shot 47 percent from the field, but Meralco had the upper had in rebounds, 56-44, and in assists, 18-15. However, they had 13 turnovers, four more compared to the Katropa’s nine.
TNT will face the NLEX Road Warriors next Wednesday, September 13, 7:00 PM at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, while Meralco will look to bounce back versus the Star Hotshots this Saturday, September 9, 5:00 PM, at Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The Scores:
TNT 113 – Rice Jr. 32, Castro 27, Williams 16, Pogoy 11, Rosario 7, De Ocampo 6, Semerad 5, Reyes 5, Tautuaa 4, Seigle 0.
Meralco 107 – Durham 39, Amer 21, Tolomia 9, Lanete 9, Dillinger 8, Hugnatan 7, Newsome 6, Hodge 4, Caram 4, Nabong 0.
Quarterscores: 29-17, 63-46, 89-84, 113-107.
