TNT banked on defense in the endgame to survive San Miguel, 89-88, to win their 2021 Honda PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal opener, Sunday evening at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Roger Pogoy prevented Marcio Lassiter from creating enough space for a shot with less than two seconds left, and the Tropang Giga heaved a huge sigh of relief after seeing their double-digit cushion deflated to just a solitary point.
The Cebuano guard was also on the forefront of his team’s offense with 23 points as he showed again why he’s one of the league’s top two-way players.
“No, not at all,” said head coach Chot Reyes when asked if they anticipated the Beermen’s final play. “San Miguel can beat you in a number of ways. It can be ball screen [for the] last shot, isolation play, post.
“We just said, we play straight-up defense as best as we can and we’ll just see what happens,” he added. “I just told them, ‘Challenge whatever shot it is, let’s not foul’ and it’s important to get five guys to rebound.”
Veteran Jayson Castro finished with 16 points, six rebounds, and the same number of assists with two steals in the win.
Poy Erram withstood foul trouble and contributed 15 points and five rebounds, and Troy Rosario supplied 14 markers as the Tropa’s bigs stepped up in the absence of Kelly Williams, who’s under health and safety protocols.
“The first thing we said is that there’s no one person who can fill the shoes of Kelly Williams. Those are such big shoes. But every guy does a little bit extra,” lauded the only five-time Coach of the Year.
TNT appeared to have the game in the bag when Mikey Williams hit a three and started a 12-0 run for a 69-57 lead before the third quarter ended.
However, the Beermen flexed their pose once more in the final period. Staring at a 10-point deficit, June Mar Fajardo led the Beermen’s attack and put his side to within one, 84-85, after a one-hander with 2:58 to go.
Poy Erram aptly responded with a point-blank bucket, and Roger Pogoy widened the gap to five following an off-the-glass shot. He had a chance to make it a six-point spread, but failed to convert the bonus.
That’s when CJ Perez started to take over for SMB. He nailed a lay-up off a strong drive to the hoop, and moments later turned Chris Ross’ lead pass to an assist to once again cut the deficit to one with 36.2 seconds left.
Pogoy missed his shot on the other end and their foes sued for time after collaring the board. But he made up for that by stopping Lassiter, who tried to attack his defense and opted for a floater for a go-ahead.
San Miguel tried one last attempt to steal the game but time wasn’t on their side anymore, and their rivals escaped.
“Ang lakas nitong kalaban nating ‘to eh. So you know, ‘yun ang mangyayari. We stayed close and we gave ourselves a chance to win. And luckily we pulled it out tonight,” said the many-time champion coach.
Perez led the Beermen with 23 points in the loss that saw them commit 23 turnovers, 13 of which were in the first half.
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Fajardo made 13 points and 11 rebounds. Arwind Santos produced 12 points and nine rebounds, while Lassiter added 10 markers.
The Scores:
TNT (89) — Pogoy 23, Castro 16, Erram 15, Rosario 14, M Williams 7, Montalbo 5, Khobuntin 4, Marcelo 3, Reyes 2, Heruela 0.
San Miguel (88) –– Perez 23, Fajardo 13, Santos 12, Lassiter 10, Cabagnot 8, Ross 8, Romeo 8, Tautuaa 6, Gamalinda 0.
Quarterscores: 19-17, 42-41, 71-60, 89-88.
