Jayson Castro showed time and again why TNT turns to him in dire situations as he towed his side past San Miguel, 86-84, to take Game One of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Finals, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The 36-year-old chalked up yet another clutch showing this conference, calling game by calmly nailing the pull-up jumper to beat the buzzer as the defending champions drew first blood in the best-of-seven series.
He finished with 15 points on a 45.5-percent clip from the field to help the Tropang Giga complete the fightback from 15 down early.
“There were really two options,” said head coach Chot Reyes of the final play. “There was some misdirection, two options. But the key was No. 1, you gotta get open. No. 2, you know that with 1.6 [seconds], you have one more dribble.
“I think this is something we practice all the time in our practices, so all the players know that. But in the end, it’s great that Jayson made the shot, but the better thing was we gave ourselves the chance,” he added.
Roger Pogoy top-scored for TNT with 26 points, including 10 in the third quarter alone as he joined hands with Mikey Williams to lead the rally.
The 2021 Philippine Cup Finals MVP scored 12 of his 21 points in that period, where the team exploded for 33 points while limiting the opposition to only 15 to head into the final 12 minutes with a 70-64 advantage.
“Fortunately, we were able to solve what they were doing defensively in the third quarter. I thought the third quarter was the key,” said Reyes.
The win not only gave TNT a 1-0 lead but also served as a fitting send-off to the champion coach, who’s set to miss Game Two and Three of the title bout to lead Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers’ upcoming window.
“I’m very intentional in developing my coaching staff as well. So that in situations like this, they can step in,” the six-time Coach of the Year said. “So they’ll have to take the cudgels. Let’s see how well I’ve prepared them.”
Meanwhile, June Mar Fajardo led San Miguel with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Fellow BPC frontrunner CJ Perez had 21 in the defeat.
The Beermen tied things up at 84-all following Vic Manuel’s three-point play completion with 53.6 seconds to go, but couldn’t get enough momentum. They even committed a shot clock violation with three seconds left.
They had chances to stop the Tropa afterwards and hope for an overtime, only for Castro to destroy their aspirations by beating the buzzer.
The title series opener drew a total of 8,458 fans, one of which was none other than NBA cager Jordan Clarkson as he watched the game from courtside.
The Scores:
TNT 86 – Pogoy 26, M.Williams 21, Castro 15, Erram 9, Khobuntin 8, Reyes 6, Rosario 1, Montalbo 0, K.Williams 0, Marcelo 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
San Miguel 84 – Fajardo 24, Perez 21, Cruz 10, Tautuaa 6, Manuel 6, Lassiter 5, Brondial 4, Enciso 3, Ross 2.
Quarterscores: 16-21, 37-49, 70-64, 86-84.
—
The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
