Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was the stabilizing presence TNT needed to beat Rain or Shine, 90-81, to draw first blood in their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup semifinal series, Wednesday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
The reigning Best Import finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists, pouring it most especially in the game’s final six minutes to ensure the Tropang Giga’s strong closeout toward the 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 affair.
He buckled down to work shortly after the Elasto Painters sliced a 12-point gap to just half, cleaning up his own miss from point-blank before dishing the rock to Calvin Oftana for a layup to make it an 84-74 lead with 4:49 to go.
The window for a comeback became smaller and smaller for the opposition afterward, and RHJ would shut it by striking the dagger through a four-pointer with the shot clock winding down to make it a 90-79 count with 1:47 left.
“I don’t think it was easy,” said the former NBA veteran, who also collected five steals and four blocks to submit a full line in nearly 46 minutes of play.
“They really had a good game plan. I turned the ball over the most, I think, this conference. Part of it was being off seven days washing off that rust. Part of it was that they played really hard. They played physical. They challenged me.”
Hollis-Jefferson’s late-game heroics also saved particularly the efforts of lefty guard Rey Nambatac, who poured 11 of his 14 points to lead the third-quarter reversal after entering the halftime break staring at a narrow 43-39 deficit.
It saved the defending conference champions, too, from crumbling after the early exit of Kelly Williams, who suffered an apparent left calf injury during the first quarter and was never brought back in by the coaching staff.
“We hope it’s nothing serious. But he couldn’t put any weight on it. He couldn’t put any weight on it,” Coach Chot Reyes said. “We’ll need a lot of him so we’re praying it’s something he can recover from. That’s the reason we sat him out.”
Roger Pogoy supplied 16 points and seven rebounds, while Oftana finished with his own double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Tropa, who will look to make it a 2-0 lead in Game 2 on Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Aaron Fuller, on the other hand, led Rain or Shine with a near 20-20 as he came through with 18 points — albeit on 19 shots — and a game-high 21 rebounds.
Gian Mamuyac and Anton Asistio were the only other double-digit scorers for the Elasto Painters with 14 and 13, respectively, in the defeat.
The Scores:
TNT 90 – Hollis-Jefferson 26, Pogoy 16, Nambatac 14, Oftana 11, Castro 9, Aurin 6, Erram 5, Khobuntin 3, Galinato 0, Williams 0, Heruela 0.
Rain or Shine 81 – Fuller 18, Mamuyac 14, Asistio 13, Nocum 7, Lemetti 7, Clarito 6, Datu 6, Norwood 5, Santillan 4, Caracut 1, Belga 0.
Quarterscores: 22-24, 39-43, 75-66, 90-81.
