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MANILA, Philippines-Defending champion TNT wrapped up its elimination round in style on Sunday night, taking down Barangay Ginebra, 106-92, in a duel of heavyweights in the PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
The Tropang Giga used the one-two punch of Roger Pogoy and Mikey Williams all night long to rise to 8-3 overall and stay in the running for a Top 2 finish that will afford the club a win-once privilege in the quarterfinals.
“We were stung by the last defeat specifically by how poorly we defended,” said coach Chot Reyes. “I thought this was a good improvement just giving up 92 points against a tough team.”
“It’s everyone coming together hunkering down and doing his part on defense.”
Pogoy wound up with 30 points and eight rebounds, while Williams 19 and five. Glenn Khobuntin pumped in 16 and 8 off the bench as Kib Montalbo and Kelly Williams both chipped in double figures for TNT, which will be going into a two-week break as Reyes steers the young, Poy-Erram reinforced National Five in the Fiba Asia Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia, beginning this Wednesday.
Japeth Aguilar finished with 18 points, while Christian Standhardinger added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Gin Kings whose four-game winning streak came to a halt and slid to 6-2 before a crowd of 10,306.
LA Tenorio, Arvin Tolentino, and Scottie Thompson scored in twin digits in the losing stand.
Ginebra, also a contender for that coveted playoff perk, has three more games left against Meralco, NorthPort, and Phoenix.
The Scores:
TNT 106 – Pogoy 30, M.Williams 19, Khobuntin 16, K.Williams 12, Montalbo 10, Erram 9, Cruz 7, Castro 3, Marcelo 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
GINEBRA 92 – J.Aguilar 18, Tenorio 15, Standhardinger 15, Tolentino 14, Thompson 13, Pringle 7, Chan 5, Mariano 3, Pinto 2, David 0, Caperal 0, Salado 0.
Quarterscores: 27-23, 54-46, 78-65, 106-92.