TNT rips Magnolia, nears finals; Meralco evens series with SMB

TNT displayed its full might and overpowered Magnolia, 104-84, to stand at the doorstep of a possible return trip to the Finals in Game 4 of their best-of-seven semifinals series in the PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday, Aug. 10 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Tropang Giga attacked from all fronts, inside the paint and beyond the arc with TNT big men led by JP Erram and Troy Rosario making the Hotshots pay for focusing too much on prolific guards in Jayson Castro and Mikey Williams to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

Erram finished with a team-high 19 points on top of 13 rebounds while Rosario added 15 points and eight boards as they benefited from the attention Williams had been getting especially in the first half when he was held scoreless.

When the Hotshots tried to clog the paint to stop the big men, the Tropang Giga then started connecting from the outside led by Williams who dropped all of his 15 points in the second half while RR Pogoy added 18, each of them drilling four triples in the lopsided affair.

“As usual, we looked at whatever defensive adjustments we could make and how they’re scoring against us. The focus on this game really was two-fold. No. 1 was to make stops. It’s even written on the board,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes.

“And then the second thing, just offensively to limit our turnovers and make sure we took good shots. And I think those two things were the priorities coming into the ball game,” he added.

It was a big night for the MVP Group as Meralco likewise cruised to a 111-99 win over San Miguel to even their own semis series – thanks to its scrappy defense and red-hot shooting.

Allein Maliksi, Aaron Black and Raymond Almazan dazzled in the Bolts’ huge third quarter surge to seize control of the game en route to the coast-to-coast win that equalized the series anew at 2-2.

Meralco unleashed three straight triples early in the third frame – two coming from Maliksi and one from Almazan – triggering a sizzling 20-6 run that turned a close 58-53 halftime lead into a 78-59 advantage midway through the quarter.

San Miguel managed to string some points and cut the lead down to just 13, 82-69, but another 10-2 spurt bridging the third and final frames proved to be the killing blow as Meralco established a 21-point lead it never relinquished until the final frame.

“We just try to take advantage of some of the things that we saw in Game 3. We made some adjustments on how to attack their defense because their defense has been pretty good so far in the series and it worked for us,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

The scores:

First Game

MERALCO 111 — Black 21, Maliksi 19, Hodge 18, Almazan 17, Quinto 11, Newsome 8, Baclao 4, Belo 4, Hugnatan 3, Banchero 2, Pascual 2, Jose 2, Pasaol 0, Caram 0, Johnson 0.
SMB 97 — Perez 24, Lassiter 23, Fajardo 21, Brondial 9, Manuel 9, Canete 4, Zamar 3, Cruz 2, Tautuaa 1, Pessumal 1, Ross 0, Enciso 0, Herndon 0.

Quarters: 36-23, 58-53, 88-71, 111-9

Second Game
TNT 102 — Erram 19, Pogoy 18, M. Williams 15, Rosario 15, Khobuntin 9, Castro 9, Reyes 6, K. Williams 4, Cruz 3, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Alejandro 2, Montalbo 0, Marcelo 0, Banal 0, Tungcab 0.
MAGNOLIA 84 –– Sangalang 19, Lee 17, Dionisio 14, Reavis 7, Barroca 5, Dela Rosa 4, Jalalon 4, Wong 4, Corpuz 4, Abueva 2, Brill 2, Zaldivar 2, Ahanmisi 0, Laput 0, Escoto 0.

Quarters: 18-15, 42-38, 70-54, 102-84.

TNT rips Magnolia, nears finals; Meralco evens series with SMB

TNT displayed its full might and overpowered Magnolia, 104-84, to stand at the doorstep of a possible return trip to the Finals in Game 4 of their best-of-seven semifinals series in the PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday, Aug. 10 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Tropang Giga attacked from all fronts, inside the paint and beyond the arc with TNT big men led by JP Erram and Troy Rosario making the Hotshots pay for focusing too much on prolific guards in Jayson Castro and Mikey Williams to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

Erram finished with a team-high 19 points on top of 13 rebounds while Rosario added 15 points and eight boards as they benefited from the attention Williams had been getting especially in the first half when he was held scoreless.

When the Hotshots tried to clog the paint to stop the big men, the Tropang Giga then started connecting from the outside led by Williams who dropped all of his 15 points in the second half while RR Pogoy added 18, each of them drilling four triples in the lopsided affair.

“As usual, we looked at whatever defensive adjustments we could make and how they’re scoring against us. The focus on this game really was two-fold. No. 1 was to make stops. It’s even written on the board,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes.

“And then the second thing, just offensively to limit our turnovers and make sure we took good shots. And I think those two things were the priorities coming into the ball game,” he added.

It was a big night for the MVP Group as Meralco likewise cruised to a 111-99 win over San Miguel to even their own semis series – thanks to its scrappy defense and red-hot shooting.

Allein Maliksi, Aaron Black and Raymond Almazan dazzled in the Bolts’ huge third quarter surge to seize control of the game en route to the coast-to-coast win that equalized the series anew at 2-2.

Meralco unleashed three straight triples early in the third frame – two coming from Maliksi and one from Almazan – triggering a sizzling 20-6 run that turned a close 58-53 halftime lead into a 78-59 advantage midway through the quarter.

San Miguel managed to string some points and cut the lead down to just 13, 82-69, but another 10-2 spurt bridging the third and final frames proved to be the killing blow as Meralco established a 21-point lead it never relinquished until the final frame.

“We just try to take advantage of some of the things that we saw in Game 3. We made some adjustments on how to attack their defense because their defense has been pretty good so far in the series and it worked for us,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

The scores:

First Game

MERALCO 111 — Black 21, Maliksi 19, Hodge 18, Almazan 17, Quinto 11, Newsome 8, Baclao 4, Belo 4, Hugnatan 3, Banchero 2, Pascual 2, Jose 2, Pasaol 0, Caram 0, Johnson 0.
SMB 97 — Perez 24, Lassiter 23, Fajardo 21, Brondial 9, Manuel 9, Canete 4, Zamar 3, Cruz 2, Tautuaa 1, Pessumal 1, Ross 0, Enciso 0, Herndon 0.

Quarters: 36-23, 58-53, 88-71, 111-9

Second Game
TNT 102 — Erram 19, Pogoy 18, M. Williams 15, Rosario 15, Khobuntin 9, Castro 9, Reyes 6, K. Williams 4, Cruz 3, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Alejandro 2, Montalbo 0, Marcelo 0, Banal 0, Tungcab 0.
MAGNOLIA 84 –– Sangalang 19, Lee 17, Dionisio 14, Reavis 7, Barroca 5, Dela Rosa 4, Jalalon 4, Wong 4, Corpuz 4, Abueva 2, Brill 2, Zaldivar 2, Ahanmisi 0, Laput 0, Escoto 0.

Quarters: 18-15, 42-38, 70-54, 102-84.

Tags: #PBA semis