Roger Pogoy came up big down the stretch to lift the all-Filipino TNT past Meralco, 77-75, for the 2-1 lead in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup best-of-7 semifinals at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Sunday evening.
The Tropang 5G went to their star winger for the lead, and he delivered, coming through with the game’s most important triple with 7.4 seconds left to negate Chris Newsome’s trey on the other end that gave the Bolts a 75-74 lead.
Pogoy’s shot, furthermore, saved the efforts of Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Kelly Williams, who put together the 8-0 rally to wipe out a 72-66 deficit and give themselves the 74-72 lead briefly, setting up the tight finish.
(C) PBA Images
Misses by CJ Cansino and Jason Brickman from point-blank range ultimately enabled the defending conference champions to pull off the narrow victory and a solid show of resilience as they played their first game without Bol Bol.
“More than the caliber and depth of our team, I think it’s our heart, really. All of our discussions in practice, even before any kind of game planning, were just about setting our minds right that we have a chance,” Coach Chot Reyes said.
“Yesterday, our discussion was because we’re all-Filipino without Bol, we cannot match Meralco’s energy and effort. We have to overcome it. We have to find a way to put in more energy and effort … I think that’s how the game panned out,” the former Gilas head coach added.
Rey Nambatac led TNT with a conference-high 18 points and eight rebounds, becoming the latest local to shine as they’re starting to get their groove back.
Calvin Oftana made 15 points and seven rebounds, while Jordan Heading chipped in 12 as a total of nine players scored at least two in the win.
Game 4 is on Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, with the Tropa set to parade either Malick Diouf or Chris McCullough as their new import.
“We’ll take a look at what our options are–we are still even looking beyond the two guys who are here already. But that’s a work in progress,” the champion mentor offered as both imports were actually part of the Game 2 crowd.
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Marvin Jones had 22 points and 15 points for Meralco in the loss, which was also their second versus an import-less team this conference
Their first was a 109-102 decision against a Rain or Shine team that played without the suspended Jaylen Johnson last March 27.
Newsome was his lone back-up with 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists as they clearly struggled to go up against an all-Filipino unit man for man.
The Scores:
TNT 77 – Nambatac 18, Oftana 15, Heading 12, Pogoy 9, Ganuelas-Rosser 8, Khobuntin 5, Aurin 5, Williams 3, Galinato 2, Ferrer 0, Chua 0, Quitevis 0.
Meralco 75 – Jones 22, Newsome 10, Cansino 8, Mocon 8, Brickman 7, Black 5, Rios 5, Banchero 4, Hodge 4, Quinto 2, Bates 0.
Quarterscores: 20-16, 43-34, 55-59, 77-75.
