Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
TNT continued its dominance over Blackwater with a 92-83 win in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The KaTropa turned things around in the second half, where they led by as much as 17, 76-59, early in the fourth quarter before holding off a late rally by the Elite.
“Going into this game, we knew that we gonna have a hard time against Blackwater,” said TNT coach Nash Racela. “We knew that it’s not gonna be easy getting a victory over them. It would take our absolute best and they really able to challenge us.”
The KaTropa rose to 10-0 overall against the Elite, who entered the league in 2014.
Roger Pogoy showed the way for TNT, which improved to 2-2, with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field that went with eight rebounds.
Jayson Castro added 17 points, including a three-point play that pushed the KaTropa’s lead to nine, 88-79, with only 1:04 remaining.
The Elite (2-2) blew a 43-33 buffer they built in the first half after Pogoy and Castro led the KaTropa back in the third quarter.
JP Erram led Blackwater with 20 points on top of eight rebounds while Mike Cortez had 14 points off the bench.