REY Nambatac scored a buzzer-beating three as TNT recovered from a flat start to get back to iwinning ways, beating Converge, 110-107, on Tuesday in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Tropang 5G conceded 16 straight points in the early part of the first quarter, but still came from behind despite playing with a depleted roster.
Already without Calvin Oftana, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Jayson Castro, and Poy Erram, TNT lost Jordan Heading and RR Pogoy due to injuries during the game, leaving its second-stringers to overcome the deficit that reached as large as 17.
Completing the comeback was Nambatac, who scored on a pull-up three in front of the Converge bench to win the game for TNT after Jammal Franklin tied the game at 107 with four free throws.
Nambatac actually hit back-to-back threes, making one from the left corner with 12.6 seconds left for a 107-103 lead only for Sean Quitevis to foul Franklin while taking a four-point shot.
“You hardly hear me talk about character in postgame interviews because for me, character is what’s within and we don’t have to talk about it to demonstrate it. But I thought tonight was definitely a gutsy, character win,” TNT coach Chot Reyes.
“We could have folded so many times. They scored 16 points right off the bat. They could have folded when we lost Jordan and we lost Roger. But still, the guys continued playing,” Reyes said.
Heading had 20 points before going down with an injury on his left shoulder, while Henry Galinato stepped up with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Franklin played his first game since replacing Jalen Hudson, and had 30 points in the loss, Converge’s second straight defeat to go down to 3-2.
Converge was already up, 20-3, but still lost the match-up.
The scores:
TNT 110 – Nambatac 30, Heading 20, Galinato 12, Days 10, Jalalon 9, Ferrer 9, Quitevis 6, Pogoy 5, Khobuntin 4, Varilla 3, Aurin 2, Enciso 0, Hill 0.
Converge 107 – Franklin 30, Baltazar 21, Williams 17, Arana 11, Gomez de Liano 8, Abueva 6, Garcia 6, Concepcion 3, Tungcab 3, Stockton 2, Policarpio 0.
Quarters: 25-33; 51-54; 71-80; 110-107.
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