KaTropa bust Painters’ run

PBA IMAGES

ANTIPOLO CITY—Playing its first game in 25 days, TNT looked the sharper team against streaking Rain or Shine, carving out a 100-92 decision in Sunday’s PBA Philippine Cup action at Ynares Center here.

Even without its marksman, national team mainstay Roger Pogoy, TNT managed to dictate the pace for most of the game. Jayson Castro and Troy Rosario, both fresh from their national team stint, tallied 20 points each.

“We’ve been practicing really, really hard during the break,” coach Bong Ravena said in Filipino. “We want our team to
focus on defense and be consistent.”

With the help of Jericho Cruz and Ryan Reyes, TNT erected a 17-point lead against the erstwhile coleaders of the tournament. Cruz finished with 15 points while Reyes added 10 more.

But Rain or Shine wasn’t the hottest team in the league for nothing—riding into the game on the saddle of a five-game winning streak. And even without star big man Raymond Almazan anchoring the middle, the Elasto Painters weren’t going down without a fight.

Veteran James Yap and rookie Jjay Alejandro spearheaded a 17-4 run that pulled the Elasto Painters within four with 33 ticks left to play.

But they eventually ran out of time to complete the comeback.

In the other match, Alaska rebounded from big loss by coming out with an even bigger win, shredding crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra, 104-78.

The Aces, still with several key cogs decommissioned by injuries, got strong performances from Chris Banchero, Simon Enciso and a host of role players to tab their third win in five outings.

The Kings dropped to 3-3.