PBA: Blackwater ends long skid to TNT with OT win

Blackwater muscled its way in overtime and broke its losing streak to TNT, coming away with a 104-98 win in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Elite, who played their first game in the conference, were 0-11 against the KaTropa since they joined the league in 2014.

John Pinto and Allein Maliksi were quick to respond to the Elite’s situation as they scored the first 14 of their team’s points in overtime for the 97-89 lead with 2:17 left in extra time.

Maliksi then hit the dagger jumper for Blackwater’s 100-93 lead with 49.1 left to play.

An emotional Bong Ramos said it took his team more than their regular practice sessions to achieve the cohesiveness they displayed in crunch time.

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The Elite played a couple of pocket tournaments in Indonesia and Macau before returning to the Philippines for the PBA’s third conference.

“I actually saw this kind of game from them during our time abroad, it really helped a lot because it helped with our chemistry,” said Elite’s head coach as he wiped away his tears. “It feels so great to win.”

“This is God’s will and I’m sorry if I started crying because I really didn’t have any rest. These tears are from happiness. I want to thank the players because they sacrificed a lot.”

Maliksi finished with 28 points, nine coming in overtime, with nine rebounds to lead the Elite while Henry Walker had 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Pinto had 12 points, six of which came in the extra period after going scoreless in the second half, to aid Blackwater.

Terrence Romeo had a team-high 24 points for the KaTropa, who dropped to 1-2 while new import Stacey Davis had 23 points and 16 boards with Jayson Castro pitching in 20 points.