They lost Terrence Jones through an ejection late, but that hardly affected TNT as the Katropa beat the Alaska Aces, 99-85, to post back-to-back victories in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup, Saturday night at SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Jones got kicked out of the match with 2:11 remaining in the game after a flagrant foul penalty one on an apparent hit against Jake Pascual. He was ejected as he had already incurred a technical foul prior to that infraction.
The NBA veteran left the match with his KaTropa comfortably ahead, 93-79, though. The locals then stepped up and applied the finishing touches to prevent the Milkmen from mounting a comeback as they’ve done before.
Despite the exit, Jones still led the Texters with 43 points and 22 rebounds, along with five assists, three steals, and two blocks. This is his second straight 40-point game after dropping 41 in their 102-87 win over NLEX last Sunday.
Jones was also the catalyst of TNT’s pull-away. From a slim three-point lead with three minutes left in the third, he led the KaTropa’s 14-2 blitz en route to an 80-65 lead with 9:31 to go in the fourth, which they they never lost hold of.
“Hopefully, he’ll be consistent,” said TNT head coach Bong Ravena of Jones.
Jayson Castro filled up the stat sheet, leading the KaTropa’s local force with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks. Tony Semerad chimed in 11 markers on three triples with five rebounds.
“Our goal is to win as much as possible, especially in the early part of the conference. Kailangan namin laging makapanalo. Hahanapin kasi namin mga talo namin nung una. But there are still a lot more things to improve,” Ravena said.
Import Chris Daniels led Alaska with 23 points, 19 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Unfortunately, he committed nine of his team’s 27 turnovers.
Jvee Casio backed him up with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting on top of four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Meanwhile, fellow guard Chris Banchero supplied 12 markers in the loss that sent the Aces’ win-loss record to 1-2.
TNT and Alaska will see action again on May 29, Wednesday, at SM Mall of Asia Arena. The KaTropa will face another 2-0 team in NorthPort Batang Pier at 4:30 PM. The Aces then go up against NLEX Road Warriors at 7:00 PM.
The Scores:
TNT 99 – Jones 43, Castro 14, Semerad A. 11, Pogoy 9, Rosario 8, Heruela 7, Trollano 4, Taha 2, Williams 1, Semerad D. 0, Casino 0.
Alaska 85 – Daniels 23, Casio 22, Banchero 12, Racal 8, Pascual 7, Teng 5, Enciso 4, Thoss 2, Cruz 2, Exciminiano 0, Baclao 0, Galliguez 0, Ayaay 0.
Quarterscores: 24-23, 50-48, 73-63, 99-85.
