TNT Katropa’s surge in the payoff period were enough to prevent San Miguel Beermen to a commanding 3-1 Finals lead as they came out victorious in Game 4, 102-97, Wednesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
With the win, the best-of-seven title bout is now tied at two games apiece.
“It was a hard-fought ballgame. Both teams gave their best today,” said TNT head coach Nash Racela. “It’s nice that we ended up with the win, but all we did, really, was just to tie the series and cut it down to a best-of-three.”
Joshua Smith, whose wife Kristy is currently in labor back in Seattle Washington, played inspired basketball and top-billed for the flagship MVP franchise with 20 points on 17 attempts alongside 15 rebounds.
“If you are hurt, you could use that as an excuse to go home so that you’ll be there beside your girlfriend giving birth. Pero, he chose to stay here and play in the Finals and work for the championship,” lauded Racela of Smith.
Down 86-81 with 7:04 to go in the final period, the Katropa left the Beermen in the dust as they sprinted to a 13-3 scoring spree punctuated by Castro’s pull-up jumper to snatch the lead, 94-89, with 3:46 on the clock.
It was all TNT then after that, preventing SMB to mount another late-game comeback. A three-point play conversion by Smith with 2:02 left to play gave them a 99-91 advantage, and they sustained that lead until the final buzzer.
Castro supplied 17 markers on 58.3 percent shooting for TNT, while rookie Roger Pogoy finally found his stroke after two scoreless outings as he finished with 14 points by going 6-of-9 from the field.
“Jayson was more aggressive, was looking for his shots; Roger finally hit his three-pointers,” praised the first-year coach of his key guards. “But again, it was a collective thing, everybody really pitching in.”
Newly-crowned Best Import Charles Rhodes paced the Beermen with 22 points on 15 tries alongside eight rebounds. Alex Cabagnot backed him up with 18 points, six caroms, five dimes, and two steals.
Best Player of the Conference Chris Ross only scored eight.
The Katropa shot 48 percent from the floor, with most of their shots coming from their 18 team assists. However, both squads had identical numbers in rebounds at 51; turnovers at 17; and blocks at five.
With the series now leveled once more, both TNT and San Miguel will look to take a 3-2 lead in the pivotal Game Five set this Friday, June 30, 7:00 PM still at the Big Dome. And for Racela, he expects nothing but a war.
“It will be a war,” said Racela of Game Five. “I expect them not to back down, so we’ll just keep quiet and find ways to win – just like how we did it today.”
The Scores:
TNT (102) – Smith 20, Castro 17, Pogoy 14, Rosario 13, De Ocampo 13, Garcia 10, Tautuaa 6, Rosales 3, Reyes 3, Williams 2, Semerad 1, Carey 0.
San Miguel (97) – Rhodes 22, Cabagnot 18, Lassiter 14, Fajardo 13, Santos 12, Ross 8, De Ocampo 4, Tubid 3, Heruela 3, Espinas 0, Semerad 0, McCarthy 0, Van Opstal 0, Agovida 0.
Quarterscores: 27-24, 49-47, 73-76, 102-97.
