TNT advanced to the quarterfinal round of the PBA Philippine Cup after copping its sixth win at the expense of Globalport, 102-98, Wednesday at Cuneta Astrodome.
The KaTropa improved to 6-4 with six being the magic number to get to the playoffs while the Batang Pier dipped to 5-5.
TNT survived a hellish 22-2 run ordeal from the Batang Pier in the fourth quarter led by Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle to cut the lead to 100-98 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game.
Troy Rosario, who turned the ball over with 24.1 seconds left, iced the game at the stripe to make up for his earlier mistake.
“Wild game, we were up close to 20, they happened up to catch up,” said TNT head coach Nash Racela. “It’s very obvious we’re very inconsistent, and we’re trying to address that. It’s hard to play that way. When we go to the playoffs with that mentality, it’s gonna be a problem for us.”
TNT waxed hot in the middle part of the fourth to take a 94-73 courtesy of a 19-0 run.
Roger Pogoy had a team-high 20 points for TNT on 50 percent shooting wile Moala Tautuaa had 18 points and eight boards.
Jayson Castro had a subpar shooting night of 38 percent to finish with 16 but made his shots when it counted scoring 11 in the final frame.
Terrence Romeo led all scorers with 35 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc, nine rebounds and six assists.