Lead by one-two final punch by the scorching hot Roger Pogoy and Jayson Castro, the much composed Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters showcased a tremendous late-game surge to past gritty Alaska Aces and grab a 107-106 win in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.
At the start of the final canto, the Texters trailed a 10-point lead by the Aces until they managed to exchange a blow after blow baskets and solved their counterparts mystery by relying on the long range hot-shooting of Pogoy and Castro combo.
Pogoy started the KaTropa’s end-game outside snipping in the last 2:18 mark, locking horns with the Alaska at 99 apiece. But Alaska couldn’t escape as another cold-blooded triple by him in the last 1:38, coming from a shaking off move against Aces’ Chris Banchero to snatch the lead at 102-101.
However, the exchange of baskets continued, dealing Alaska a slight chance courtesy of Ladontae Henton’s offensive rebound and put back coming from Vic Manuel’s miss to reclaim the lead at 102-103, with 1:26 left in the game.
But merciless Texter’s launched wombo combo attack before dodging a Henton’s big triple through Ranidel De Ocampo’s long range jumper and Castro’s triple to seal the game at 107-106.
“We knew all along the Alaska’s becoming a more dangerous team. I followed them a couple of games this conference and they’ve been playing well. The effort is there, Coach Alex (Compton) has done a marvelous job leading them and motivating them despite the situation that they are in,” Coach Nash Racela said on a post-game presser.
“Good thing na players stepped up. We really wanted to preserve Jayson and Roger for FIBA Asia but they played the whole second half and I apologized Coach Chot for stretching their minutes,” he added.
The TNT’s reinforcement Michael Craig lead his team with an impressive double-double performance of 28 points, 19 rebounds.
The fiery Pogoy also delivered a huge 25-point performance with near perfect 7 out of 8 from three-point range, while Castro flirted with a triple-double (23 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds).
Henton finished with Alaska’s team-high monstrous numbers of 42 points, 22 rebounds, supported by Calvin Abueva’s 19 points, 11 rebounds.
Alaska dropped to 0-4, joining Kia at the bottom of the standings while the Talk “N Text improved to a 2-1 record to stay in the middle of the standings. | Tretch Melarpes – PTV
