MIKEY Williams showed NLEX what it exactly missed when it failed to draft him.
The prolific rookie fired a season-high 36 points to personally lead the TnT Tropang Giga charge in a runaway 100-85 win over the Road Warriors that put them back on track in the PBA Philippine Cup on Friday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym.
The Road Warriors had their eyes on Williams as the No. 4 pick overall in the last rookie draft, but were forced to accommodate a complex, last-minute trade that had Williams landing instead on the lap of the Tropang Giga.
Now he proved to be a thorn in the side of the Road Warriors, who TnT dealt a second straight loss for an even 4-4 record.
Rookie scoring record
The Tropang Giga meanwhile, improved to a league-best 7-1 card, bouncing back from a lopsided loss to San Miguel behind the all-out effort of Williams, who added four rebounds, three assists, and went 5-of-9 from deep.
"I'm just going to keep building on this and prepare for the next game," said Williams after the highest-scoring game by a league rookie since Ray Parks hit 39 for Blackwater against TnT last September 25, 2019.
The Tropang Giga trailed for the most part of the first half, but turned things around in the third quarter when they outscored the weary Road Warriors, 33-19.
Coming off a double overtime loss to Magnolia just two days ago, TnT coach Chot Reyes knew fatigue would be NLEX's big enemy.
"We knew they were going to come out hard after their last game. So our focus was to just match their intensity in the first half, and we knew coming from a double-overtime game, we thought if we could stay with them, our pace would wear them down. And I think that's what happened," said Reyes afterwards.
Young Kib Montalbo also had a good game for TnT with 13 points, same with Roger Pogoy, while Kelly Williams and Poy Erram each had 10 for TnT.
Pogoy and Erram also finished with seven rebounds each.
Meanwhile, TnT top gun Jayson Castro was held scoreless for the first time in his pro career as he went 0-for-4 from the field, but had six rebounds in 20 minutes of play. The veteran guard's previous low was a single points in TnT's 123-95 win over Columbian Dyip in the Commissioner's Cup eliminations in 2018.
Kevin Alas finished with 16 points in a losing cause for NLEX, which got a combined 39-point output from the trio of Don Trollano, Mike Miranda, and rookie Calvin Oftana, all of who finished in double figures.
The scores:
TNT (100) - M.Williams 36, Montalbo 13, Pogoy 13, K.Williams 10, Erram 10, Rosario 7, Reyes 4, Heruela 4, Marcelo 3, Castro 0, Javier 0, Mendoza 0, Alejandro 0.
NLEX 85 – Alas 16, Trollano 14, Miranda 14, Oftana 11, Quinahan 9, Cruz 8, Porter 5, Paniamogan 3, Soyud 0.
Quarterscores: 23-26; 47-49; 80-68; 100-85.
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