ANTIPOLO – TNT dealt San Miguel's bid for a seat in the quarterfinals a serious blow after pulling off a 115-97 rout on Sunday in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center.
The Tropang Giga went on a 31-21 tear in the third quarter and never looked back, boosting their own shot at a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals after taking solo second place on an 8-3 win-loss record.
SCENARIOS: Four-way tie for seventh will be fatal for San Miguel
The Beermen capped their disappointing elimination-round campaign with a 5-7 win-loss slate, their quest to make it to the quarterfinals hanging in the balance and now resting on the results of games featuring NLEX and Magnolia.
A win by either the Road Warriors or the Hotshots in their final eliminations game will oust the Beermen from quarterfinal contention. A loss by both teams will give SMB life as it will send the Beermen into a playoff for the No. 8 against NLEX.
San Miguel now sits at 10th, with NLEX and Magnolia in a share of eighth with a 5-6 mark. NLEX will go up against Eastern on Wednesday, while Magnolia battles Meralco on Friday.
The 'war' against San Miguel that TNT coach Chot Reyes anticipated turned out to be a mismatch that saw the Tropang Giga lead by as many as 20 points.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had a triple double in TNT’s first clash of the season against San Miguel, registering 35 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists for the Tropang Giga, who were up 115-95, in the fourth quarter.
But Reyes said the score didn’t reflect how tough the match was for the Tropang Giga as they tried to overcome the presence of June Mar Fajardo in the paint.
“The score shows that but the game was a lot closer than the score showed,” said Reyes. “It was a war out there… It was a war in the paint. It was highly physical. We couldn’t do anything against June Mar.”
“So I think in the end, we wanted to make sure that we don’t get dominated on the boards because they’re the number one rebounding team. They lead the league in second chance points. And I think we were able to do that. We limited them to less than 10 second chance points and only 11 offensive rebounds.
"So that was key. And I think that’s why the difference became that way in the end. But it was a war. This game was a lot closer than the score shows in the end,” Reyes said.
Roger Pogoy scored 22 points on 4-of-9 shooting from threes, while Calvin Oftana went 4-of-6 from distance on his way to finishing with 16 points. Jayson Castro had 14 points and five rebounds, while Poy Erram had 14 points and nine rebounds.
Fajardo added 34 points and 13 rebounds for the Beermen, but found little contributions from Malik Pope, who only had 10 points and seven rebounds for SMB.
The scores:
TNT 115 – Hollis-Jefferson 35, Pogoy 22, Oftana 16, Erram 14, Castro 14, Nambatac 6, Williams 6, Galinato 2, Razon 0, Khobuntin 0, Exciminiano 0, Heruela 0.
San Miguel 97 – Fajardo 34, Trollano 13, Tautuaa 10, Pope 10, Lassiter 9, Perez 9, Cruz 6, Ross 3, Tiongson 3, Rosales 0, Cahilig 0.
Quarters: 31-19; 56-49; 87-70; 115-97.
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