Terrence Jones fires 49, TNT beats Meralco for 6-1 mark

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Import Terrence Jones played his finest game yet, helping undermanned TNT carve out a 104-91 victory and take solo lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Saturday night at Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

“Tremendous game from Terrence,” TNT coach Bong Ravena of his import, who scored 49 points and 18 rebounds.

“But at the same time, the locals stepped up, too,” he added. “We’re not going to take it easy in the coming games. We just have to play harder again.”

Ryan Reyes—who seemed to have taken the memo from Roger Pogoy—shot the lights out, sinking six of his seven triples to shoot 19 off the bench.

Chris Newsome logged a new career-best with 39 points, while new import Jimmie Taylor had 13 points and 18 rebounds in the Bolts’ losing stand. Meralco fell 3-4 in the conference.

Meralco led briefly until Reyes caught fire in the third and Jones doubled down on the scoring effort in the final frame.

Jones poured in 18 straight to start the fourth period.

But despite TNT’s 6-1 record, Ravena still wants to see more from his team especially on the defensive end.

“We still have to be consistent with our defense. Meralco played well, Chris played well. There are still a lot we could work on and hopefully we could carry that mind-set in the coming games,” he said.

TNT takes on 1-3 Columbian on June 21.

The Bolts, meanwhile, look to stop their two-game bleeding when they play listless NLEX this coming Wednesday.