TNT’s Mikey Williams. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—TNT maintained its grip of the top seed with a 102-92 beating of NorthPort in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday at DHVSU Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
The Tropang Giga upped their winning streak to three games and improved to a 9-1 record while stopping the Batang Pier’s own three-game run.
Mikey Williams capped off TNT’s 17-6 run to give his team a 66-55 lead with 5:04 left in the third and that was enough of a foundation for the Tropang Giga to dispatch NorthPort for good.
The Batang Pier cut it to within seven, 71-64, with barely a minute left in the third but Jayson Castro had a personal five-point swing to restore balance and give the Tropang Giga a 76-64 lead with half a minute left in the quarter.
Mikey makes it a 58-52 TNT lead #PBAiTuloyAngLaban pic.twitter.com/lB0QvSym3N
— PBA (@pbaconnect) September 15, 2021
“We knew we were in for a battle because they’re tall, they’re athletic, they’re long, it was a very bad matchup for us,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes. “Today we had a lot of lapses in our game but we corrected that in the second half.”
Williams, who averaged more than 23 points a game last week, continued his stellar play as he poured in a game-high 29 points, on 5-of-8 shooting from deep, for TNT.
Kib Montalbo rose to the occasion putting up 22 points and five rebounds to help the Tropang Giga’s cause while Troy Rosario and Kelly Williams added 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Paolo Taha had a team-high 20 points for the Batang Pier, who dropped to an even 4-4 record, while Kevin Ferrer had 17 points and six rebounds.