Brian Heruela came off the bench and provided the spark for the TNT KaTropa, Sunday evening.
In Game Two of their 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals versus the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Heruela made 11 points, including eight in the final frame alone. He also had five rebounds, two assists, and a steal in over 25 minutes.
Most importantly, the KaTropa won convincingly, 88-71, to move one win away from the Finals.
“We’re just glad we’re hitting shots the whole game,” said the five-year pro after the match. “I’m just taking what coach tells me to do and I was just doing my job.
“We go by rules and hope they work out in our favor next game.”
TNT’s outside shots were a major factor in the victory, as they buried a total of 16 treys – including three from Heruela. Given this, the stocky point guard hopes that they can sustain that rhythm.
“We’re just thankful that we were able to knock down shots,” said Heruela, who averaged just 4.1 points prior to Game Two.
“Hopefully, we can carry that in the next game because we know they’re a tough team to beat. Hopefully, we’ll be able to come out with more energy.
“We know they’re going to come out hard, so we hope we’ll be able to match their intensity, and [that] we’ll be able to knock down shots,” the Filipino-American cager added.
Aside from three-point shooting, TNT’s defense also did wonders. They did so well that they contained Ginebra’s versatile scorer Stanley Pringle to just two points – this, after he had 18 markers in Game One last Friday.
“He’s a very tough player so we’re just glad that he was missing shots. That’s big,” said Heruela, since Pringle only shot 1-of-9 from the field.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to contain him next game because he’s very hard to cover.”
