B-Meg nails Game 3

JASON Castro of Talk ‘N Text drives past JC Intal of B-Meg in last night’s game that was still being played at presstime. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Denzel Bowles was all about redemption and carried B-Meg along for the ride.

Two nights after playing goat, Bowles hit the biggest shots in the stretch of Game 3 as the Llamados took a 91-87 win for a 2-1 lead over Talk ‘N Text in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series last night before close to 15,000 roaring fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

He unloaded eight of his 15 fourth quarter points inside the final 2:51 as the Llamados, who bungled several game-winning opportunities in Game 2, withstood numerous charges by the Tropang Texters to move halfway through unseating the defending champions.
“What he’s shown us after every bad game is resilience,” coach Tim Cone said of his import, whom he gambled on by keeping him in the game despite picking up a fifth foul with still 6:06 left.

“He’s come back with a monster game every time and we were lucky to keep him in the game until the last four seconds,” Cone added.

Bowles finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, a night-high six blocks and four assists, completely dominating in the stretch while getting some help from Peter June Simon and James Yap.

The 6-foot-10, a shoo-in for the Best Import award, first hit a 20-foot jumper. After a Talk ‘N Text error, he connected on a running jumper off the glass that touched off the telling spurt from an 80-79 lead.

And when the Texters came within 84-86 after two Jason Castro free throws with 34.1 seconds left, Bowles hit four straight charities to put the game away.

“We played a really lousy game,” said Talk ‘N Tex coach Chot Reyes, calling out reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo.

“Wala sa laro ang utak (Their mind was not on the game),” Reyes said. “We’re not going to beat [B-Meg] until Jimmy and Ranidel come back from vacation. (Josh) Urbiztondo is abusing Jimmy Alapag and (Marc) Pingris is shutting down Ranidel de Ocampo.”

Urbiztondo scored 12 points and Pingris had nine rebounds and three assists. Alapag scored six points and De Ocampo one.

The scores:

B-MEG 91—Bowles 28, Yap J. 21, Urbiztondo 12, Simon 12, Intal 5, Barroca 4, Reavis 4, Pingris 2, De Ocampo Y. 2, Devance 1.

TALK ‘N TEXT 87—Harvey 21, Reyes 21, Peek 15, Castro 11, Fonacier 7, Alapag 6, Williams 5, De Ocampo R. 1, Gamalinda 0, Dillinger 0.

Quarters: 19-21, 37-36, 62-64, 91-87