TNT cruised to a 109-93 win over Eastern on Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to advance to the semifinals of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson tallied 31 points, 15 rebounds, and three steals while Jayson Castro had 13 of his 16 points in the pivotal third quarter to send the Tropang Giga to their second Final Four appearance of the season.
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By sending home the guest team from Hong Kong, the second-seeded TNT will take on either Converge or Rain or Shine in the best-of-seven semifinals to be held after Gilas Pilipinas' campaign in the February FIBA window.
It was the end of the road for the guest team after falling to its third straight loss including two in the eliminations.
The Tropang Giga took the lead for good at the end of the third, 80-73.
Cameron Clark, who regained his spot in lieu of Chris McLaughlin, was visibly affected by an injury to his left calf which was heavily taped. He finished with 16 points but shot 5 of 12 from the field, while grabbing eight rebounds.
“That’s the reason why we pushed our practice yesterday to after lunch because we wanted to wait for the 12 noon deadline to find out who is their import because we had a hunch they are going to make the change because they beat us with Cam Clark the last time,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.
Rey Nambatac chipped in 18 points and four rebounds, while Poy Erram added 15 markers for TNT.
Hayden Blankley had 24 points and seven rebounds for Eastern, which struggled in the late stretch in the Commissioner’s Cup while taking part in two other leagues – the EASL and Hong Kong's domestic league.
The scores:
TNT 109 – Hollis-Jefferson 31, Nambatac 18, Castro 16, Erram 15, Oftana 12, Williams 6, Pogoy 6, Aurin 4, Khobuntin 1.
Eastern 93 – Blankley 24, Clark 16, Yang 14, Lam 11, Chan 9, Zhu 8, Guinchard 5, Xu 4, Cao 2, Leung 0.
Quarters: 27-24; 51-50; 80-73; 109-93.
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