TNT made it rain from downtown and subdued corporate rivals Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 119-92, to string together its first winning streak in the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup, Friday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Tropang Giga sank a total of 21 three-pointers on the way to handing the defending champions a deflating defeat, indeed the perfect follow-up for their blowout win against San Miguel Beer just a couple of nights ago.
The MVP Group’s crown jewel has improved to 4-4 following the win, which also served as a fitting send-off to the team before going full steam ahead in its Gilas Pilipinas duty for the FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers.
“At least now, we got ourselves back to .500,” offered head coach Chot Reyes. “We’re still a ways far from where we wanted to be.”
Mikey Williams led TNT with 26 points, 15 of which he made in the opening quarter alone that saw him go 3-of-4 from deep as his side began to take control of the match after yielding the game’s first basket.
But the night belonged to veteran forward Ryan Reyes, who finished with 24 points as he went an impressive 8-of-9 from the outside.
Fifteen of his points came in the third quarter. The 38-year-old helped open the floodgates, drilling a pair of threes in an 8-0 run that turned a narrow four-point edge to a 71-59 advantage for the Tropa with 8:02 remaining.
And there was no stopping the TNT machine from then on. It led by as many as 32 points, 118-86, with only 1:18 left in the match.
“Ryan hit eight out of nine, so we wish we could shoot like that every night. It just makes the game easier,” said the five-time Coach of the Year. “But we know not every night is going to be like tonight.”
Jayson Castro, even with a hurt shoulder, supplied 18 points in the dominant win that saw a total of six players hit at least one triple. Import Aaron Fuller produced another double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
“We liked our aggressiveness and we said we got to figure out a way to sustain our aggression without fouling. That was number one,” said Reyes.
“Number two, we said we should be prepared for a strong Ginebra fightback because we were sure coach Tim was going to make some adjustments. I think we were fortunate to counter those adjustments. We shot the lights out,” added Reyes.
TNT will now focus on its Gilas responsibilities, but will only have a few days of rest before returning to the conference on March 4 versus Blackwater.
On the other hand, Justin Brownlee finished with 25 points and nine rebounds to pace Ginebra, who fell to its third consecutive defeat.
Japeth Aguilar had 18 points. Christian Standhardinger made 16 points and six rebounds, as Scottie Thompson added 11 points, seven boards, and seven dimes in the loss that dropped their record to 3-3.
The Gin Kings will look to snap out of their skid against the Beermen in another marquee match-up on Sunday at 6:45 p.m.
The Scores:
TNT 119 – M. Williams 26, Reyes 24, Castro 18, Fuller 13, Montalbo 9, Khobuntin 9, Banal 5, Heruela 4, Rosario 4, Marcelo 3, K. Williams 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Cruz 0, Erram 0, Alejandro 0.
Ginebra 92 – Brownlee 25, Aguilar 18, Standhardinger 16, Thompson 11, Tolentino 9, Tenorio 5, Pinto 4, Chan 2, Caperal 1, Enriquez 1, Ayaay 0.
Quarterscores: 34-28, 60-53, 94-74, 119-92.
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