Castro propels unbeaten TNT past struggling Ginebra

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Jayson Castro took the mantle of being the import to power TNT past Ginebra, 96-92, Sunday in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Mall of Asia Arena.

The spitfire guard unloaded 27 points on top of five assists, and three steals off the bench to make up for the lackluster offensive outing by reinforcement Jeremy Tyler, who only had two points but had 15 rebounds and two blocks.

Roger Pogoy added 15 points, including the game-sealing jumper, 91-84, with 48 seconds to go while Troy Rosario got 14 points and seven boards in the win.

“It’s nice to win games at the start of the conference,” said TNT coach Nash Racela as his side preserved its immaculate 3-0 slate.

“We’d rather win games at the start of the conference than get wins at the end. It’s nice because it gives us a head start, something that we didn’t have last conference, but it’s still a long conference so we’ll see.”

TNT used an 11-1 run to overturn a slim 79-78 deficit to an 89-80 lead with 3:24 left, capped off by a Pogoy jumper.

Japeth Aguilar paced Ginebra with 19 points and seven rebounds, but committed eight turnovers in the defeat.

Joe Devance also had 19, while Charles Garcia got 15 points and nine boards for the 0-2 Gin Kings.

The Scores:

TNT 96 — Castro 27, Pogoy 15, Rosario 14, Trollano 11, Semerad 7, Taha 6, Cruz 5, Paredes 4, Romeo 3, Carey 2, Tyler 2, Garcia 0, Reyes 0.

GINEBRA 92 — J. Aguilar 19, Devance 19, Garcia 15, Tenorio 13, Mercado 8, Caperal 7, Thompson 5, Caguioa 2, Ferrer 2, Mariano 2.

Quarters: 27-22, 51-51, 73-69, 96-92.