TNT went wild in the middle quarters and ended the night early, cruising to a 130-92 victory over Titan Ultra for its second straight win in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup on Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The Tropang 5G battered the Giant Risers 40-19 in the second quarter to turn a precarious three-point lead into a mammoth 62-38 spread at halftime. They kept that hot shooting all the way to the third quarter, dropping another 37 points on the Giant Risers who seemed to went limp after showing plenty of fight early on.
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Henry Galinato dropped 14 points in that stretch, throwing his weight around and lording over the paint against the smaller Titan Ultra frontline.
The Tropang 5G’s offense was clicking on all cylinders that 14 of the 15 players coach Chot Reyes inserted scored, with 11 of those scoring at least eight points in an impressive show of force as they improved to 3-1 for the tournament.
“We put it on our board today [the word] ‘Effort.’ We wanted to make sure we outwork the other team. When you put in that kind of effort, good things happen,” TNT head coach Chot Reyes said.
“I think our effort overwhelmed them. They made a big go for it at the start. The effort of the first unit, and especially the second unit when Henry’s group came in, just put constant pressure on the other team. That was the reason for that.”
Galinato finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in just 15 minutes of action for TNT. Calvin Oftana had a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards while Glen Khobuntin and RR Pogoy chipped in 11 and 10 respectively.
The blowout also allowed seldom-used players like Mike Nieto and Tyrus Hill to get some needed burn time with Nieto finishing with 15 points and seven boards, while Hill went perfect from the field, hitting all his six shots for 12 points.
While all seemed to work for TNT, the struggles continued for the Giant Risers who’ve now dropped three in a row after winning their league debut against Meralco.
Joshua Munzon led the way for the Titan Ultra with 20 points and four assists, Fran Yu added 16 points and seven assists while the fit-again Calvin Abueva chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds in a where they trailed by as many as 38.
The scores:
TNT 130 - Galinato 16, Nieto 15, Oftana 14, Hill 12, Khobuntin 11, Pogoy 10, Ganuelas Rosser 9, Aurin 9, Heading 8, Williams 8, Nambatac 8, Jalalon 5, Enciso 5, Varilla 0
Titan Ultra 92 - Munzon 20. Yu 16, Abueva 15, Pessumal 10, Flores 8, Ular 8, Ambohot 4, Balanza 4, Koon 3, Sumang 2, Barasi 2, Melecio 0, Martinez 0, Cuntapay 0
Quarters: 22-19, 62-38, 99-63, 130-92
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