PBA: Calvin Oftana helps TNT slip past Meralco

TNT Tropang Giga’s Calvin Oftana.– PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–TNT escaped Meralco by the skin of its teeth on Sunday afternoon, pocketing a key 92-90 victory over corporate sibling Meralco in the PBA Philippine Cup.

The Tropang Giga hit some timely shots and then made key stops towards the end of the contest at Ninoy Aquino Stadium to return to the win column and bounce back from a horrendous loss to NorthPort just two nights ago.

“The last game was really very bad preparation on my end. I said that was mine: the matchups were all wrong and the opponent took advantage,” said head coach Chot Reyes.

SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Philippine Cup

“Yesterday we didn’t practice we just walked through stuff for some 30 minutes. We said our problems were not technical, our problems were the intangibles. We left it at that, and today I asked the players how much they wanted (to win). And the players responded,” he added.

Calvin Oftana typified that sobered-up effort, finishing 26 points built on 6-for-8 shooting from three-point land. He added nine rebounds to his name.

Veterans Jayson Castro, Kelly Williams, and Roger Pogoy all finished with at least 11 points with the latter blocking an Aaron Black layup to seal TNT’s rise to 3-3.

Black and Cliff Hodge both finished with 16 points each, Allein Maliksi tossed in 11 while Chris Banchero 10 for the Bolts, who slipped to 3-4 win-loss.

TNT battles another sister team in NLEX–which happens to be the hottest team in the race with a 5-1 mark. Meralco, meanwhile, takes on hapless Converge.

The Scores:

TNT 92 – Oftana 26, Castro 15, Pogoy 11, K.Williams 11, Galinato 11, Khobuntin 8, Montalbo 5, Aurin 3, M.Ganuelas-Rosser 2, B.Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Varilla 0, Reyes 0, Heruela 0, Ponferrada 0

MERALCO 90 – Black 16, Hodge 16, Maliksi 11, Banchero 10, Quinto 9, Newsome 8, Almazan 8, Pascual 5, Mendoza 2, Jose 2, Torres 2, Pasaol 1, Rios 0

Quarterscores: 21-25, 49-40, 73-68, 92-90